Table 7 Chronotherapeutic interventions
Author | Intervention Description | Study Design / Analytical Approach | Intervention Delivery | Intervention Facilitator | Intervention Length | Data Time Points (PN = postnatal, GE = gestational) | Number of Participants (Intervention vs Control) | Retention Rate | Recruitment Sites and Methods | Mental Health Measures | Sleep Measures | Results Summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Lee et al. (2013), USA [51] | Morning bright light therapy and a 30-min discussion on principles of sleep hygiene and a sleep hygiene booklet | RCT, between group | Face-to-face individual sessions | Trained graduate research nurse | 30 mins every morning for 3 weeks | • Baseline (5–10 days PN) • Intervention end | 35 enrolled 30 completed (16 vs 14) | 85% | Hospital neonatal intensive care unit | EPDS-10 SF36v2-M | GSDS-SQ GSDS-DF TST-NA TST-DA | • No difference between groups for sleep quality and daytime functioning or sleep duration • No difference between groups for depressive symptoms or mental health–related quality of life |
Parry et al. (2019), USA [58] | Cross-over of one night of early-night wake therapy (EWT) and late-night wake therapy (LWT) | Single arm, pre-post | In a general clinical research centre | General clinical research centre staff | One night of either EWT or LWT separated by 1 week | • Baseline (0–34 weeks GE to 0–12 months PN) • Intervention end | 50 enrolled 26 antenatal (17 healthy controls, 9 clinically depressed) 24 postnatal (8 healthy controls, 16 clinically depressed) Study Design recast 15 antenatal (EWT) 18 antenatal (LWT) 15 postnatal (EWT) 14 postnatal (LWT) | Not reported | Not reported | HAMD-21 | Actigraphy PSG DLMO | • EWT showed greater improvement in mood in pregnant women compared to postpartum women; LWT showed greater improvement in postpartum women compared to pregnant women. • Improved mood in pregnant women after EWT was associated with less time between melatonin onset and sleep onset. Improved mood in postpartum women after LWT was associated with increased total sleep time. |
Swanson et al. (2018), USA [66] | Morning light therapy using light therapy glasses | Single arm, pre-post | Light therapy glasses, self- delivered after instruction | No personal contact | 60 mins every morning for 5 weeks | • Baseline (0–6 months PN) • Intervention end | 10 enrolled 8 completed | 80% | Department of Psychiatry and community advertisements | EPDS-10 SIGH-SAD | TST-D TST-A SE-D SE-A DLMO PAD | • Improvement in depressive symptoms (EPDS and SIGH-SAD) • Improvement in self-reported sleep efficiency • No change in diary or actigraphy TST, actigraphic sleep efficiency, DLMO, and PAD • Correlation between change in PAD and percent change in SIGH-SAD score (lengthening of the PAD associated with greater improvement on SIGH-SAD) |