Intervention for preschool children with nighttime fears and avoidance behaviors of sleeping

• Grant number: 15/18841-7
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Start date: December 01, 2015
• End date: February 28, 2019
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Psychology - Psychological Treatment and Prevention
• Principal Investigator: Edwiges Ferreira de Mattos Silvares
• Grantee: Renatha El Rafihi Ferreira
• Host Institution: Instituto de Psicologia (IP). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated scholarship(s): 17/20241-3 - Understanding, assessing and treating children's fears and phobias, BE.EP.PD

Abstract

Nighttime fears cause harm to children, affecting sleep, daytime behavior and family's quality of life. Despite this, in the national scene, so far there are no publications on the subject. The aim of this research is to evaluate the effectiveness of an intervention for nighttime fears and for avoidance behaviors of sleeping in children. Will participate 60 children aged from four to six years old and their caregivers. These children exhibit nighttime fears and avoidance behaviors sleeping. Participants will be randomly assigned to the intervention and control groups. The intervention consists of a session in which parents will be oriented to read over a period of four weeks the story "Sleeping with Rafi" (psychoeducational material developed by the researcher) and to encouraging the child in conducting the pre-routine sleep and to look after a doll. The evaluation will be developed in three moments: pre-intervention, post-intervention and follow-up of three months, through the instruments: Questionnaire about fear of child, The Fear Survey Schedule for Infants-Preschoolers, Sleep Habits Inventory for Preschool Children, Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL), Preschool Anxiety Scale (PAS) and Diary of Sleep and Behavior. They will use the tests to check the homogeneity of the groups in the different variables. Assessments of the nighttime fears, sleep, anxiety and other behaviors will be compared by mixed ANOVA, followed by testing for multiple comparisons, where appropriate.

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

MARINA DA ROCHA; THOMAS OLLENDICK; FELIPE ALCKMIN-CARVALHO; LIVIA CAMPOS; FERNANDO ASBAHR; RENATHA EL RAFIHI-FERREIRA. Fears in preschoolers: translation, reliability, and validity of the Fear Survey Schedule for Infant-Preschoolers (FSSIP) - Brazilian version. Trends in Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, v. 44, 2022-05-06. (15/18841-7)