Grant: Operation:eHealth Innov Partnership Program(eHIPP)-Youth &Adolescent Mental Hlth

Insomnia is a highly prevalent problem among youth with mental health issues. It is associated with mental illness, risky behaviours, and suicide. Insomnia also exacerbates existing mental illness, and compromises mental health treatment outcomes. Successful management of insomnia is important to reduce its impact on health. Although we have evidence based treatments to quickly address insomnia, access to such treatments is extremely limited and there is very little research in youth. We need to be able to provide accessible sleep solutions to those who are most vulnerable. Providing these treatments early in life (i.e. to youth) could prevent future negative outcomes including treatment-resistant depression, suicide and substance abuse. Thus, the primary goal of this project is to increase access to effective sleep treatments for youth users through a medium they routinely engage and like /comfortable using. Although we already know that an email-delivered system is effective, digital natives likely require a more savvy, interactive platform than passive email delivery. We can improve accessibility by developing an application (app) to help address the sleep problems of young adults (age 15-24 years old) in an interactive way. We will obtain feedback on the app from youth users and other stakeholders, and adjust our prototype accordingly. We will test the refined app for improving sleep, quality of life and mood. Testing and delivering an effective, free app that is both effective, easy to use and engaging, will have an immediate positive impact on healthcare; it will also position Canada as a leader in eHealth solutions for other problems facing youth, and people across the lifespan.