Whiria Moe—the Sleep Ninja app for young people

The Sleep Ninja app is a mobile phone app which will be used for 5 to 10 minutes per day over 30 days. The core strategies included in the app are psychoeducation, stimulus control, sleep hygiene and sleep-focused cognitive therapy. The structure of the Sleep Ninja app includes six training sessions (lessons), a sleep tracking function, recommended bedtimes based on sleep guidelines, reminders to start a wind-down routine each night, a series of sleep tips and general information about sleep. The home screen has three options: train, track, and more. Users complete training sessions which are delivered through a chat-bot format where the sleep ninja acts as a sleep coach. Training sessions take approximately 5–10 min to complete, and cover: (1) psychoeducation, information about circadian rhythms and the importance of keeping regular sleep schedules; (2) stimulus control, the value of only going to sleep when tired, and strategies that can be used at night when having trouble sleeping; (3) basic sleep hygiene such as avoiding caffeine and stimulating activity in the evenings, suggestions for daytime activities to promote night-time sleep (e.g., exercise, no napping); (4) identifying and planning for high-risk situations, how to get back on track after a late-night or sleep in; (5) cognitive therapy including how to deal with unhelpful thoughts that can prevent falling asleep as well as sleep-related cognitive distortions, and (6) a final review session which summarises all of the material contained in the app. The user interacts with the app through a forced choice chat-bot format which is responsive to the input of the user, meaning it personalises information and recommendations based on the selections and sleep profile recorded by the participant. Users level up and reach their next ‘belt’ by completing one training session and tracking their sleep for three nights (out of a 7-night period). Upon completing 3 nights of sleep diary recordings (tracking) a new training session is unlocked. The app alerts the user when there is a new training session available to complete. When another 3 nights of tracking has been completed, the next training session is unlocked. App analytics will be used to monitor adherence, and for example, the number of completed training sessions as well as usage characteristics.