Department of Psychology, the University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada.
Departments of Psychology & Neuroscience and Psychiatry at Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada.
Clin Child Psychol Psychiatry. 2021 Jan;26(1):207-221. doi: 10.1177/1359104520963375. Epub 2020 Oct 15.
Behavioral sleep problems affect 25% of children and impact functioning, but little is known about help-seeking for these problems. We identified (1) predictors for sleep problem perception and help-seeking, using nested-logit regression and (2) reasons why parents did not seek professional help for sleep problems, using chi-square.
Parents ( = 407) of children (2-10-years-old) completed the study online. Parents indicated whether their child had no sleep problem, a mild problem, or a moderate-to-severe problem and completed additional questionnaires on parent/child functioning.
Overall, 5.4% ± 2.2% of parents sought professional help for a child sleep problem. Greater child sleep problem severity and greater child socioemotional problems were significant predictors of parents perceiving a sleep problem. Among parents who perceived a sleep problem, greater parental socioemotional problems significantly predicted professional help-seeking. Parents who perceived no problem or a mild sleep problem reported not needing professional help as the main reason for not seeking help; parents who perceived a moderate-to-severe problem reported logistic barriers most often (e.g. treatment unavailability, cost).
Problem perception and help-seeking predictors resemble the children's mental health literature. Differences in barriers, based on problem severity, suggest differential help-seeking interventions are needed (e.g. education vs access).
行为性睡眠问题影响 25%的儿童，并影响其功能，但对于这些问题的寻求帮助，知之甚少。我们使用嵌套逻辑回归识别了（1）睡眠问题认知和寻求帮助的预测因素，（2）父母为何不为睡眠问题寻求专业帮助的原因，使用卡方检验。
407 名儿童（2-10 岁）的父母在线完成了这项研究。父母表示他们的孩子是否存在睡眠问题，轻度问题或中度至重度问题，并完成了关于父母/孩子功能的其他问卷。
总体而言，5.4%±2.2%的父母为孩子的睡眠问题寻求专业帮助。儿童睡眠问题严重程度增加和儿童社会情感问题增加是父母感知睡眠问题的显著预测因素。在感知到睡眠问题的父母中，父母的社会情感问题增加显著预测了专业的帮助寻求。感知没有问题或轻度睡眠问题的父母表示不需要专业帮助是不寻求帮助的主要原因；感知到中度至重度问题的父母则表示最常见的逻辑障碍（例如治疗不可用，成本）。
问题认知和寻求帮助的预测因素与儿童心理健康文献相似。基于问题严重程度的差异，表明需要不同的寻求帮助干预措施（例如教育与获取）。
