Trial reportSleep medicine2019
Challenges in implementing and assessing outcomes of school start time change in the UK: experience of the Oxford Teensleep study.
Trial report in Sleep medicine, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed.
- A one-hour delayed school start improves sleep, sleepiness and inhibitory control in early adolescents in a randomized controlled trial.Scientific reports · 2026Trial
- Advancing adolescent bedtime by motivational interviewing and text message: a randomized controlled trial.Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines · 2025Trial
- Feasibility and acceptability of a sleep health intervention among adolescents in Ugandan schools: A prospective pilot intervention study.Sleep advances : a journal of the Sleep Research Society · 2026Article
- Sleep and Socioemotional Outcomes Among Sexual and Gender Minority Adolescents: A Longitudinal Study.Archives of sexual behavior · 2024Article
- School start times and their association with rurality in British Columbia, Canada: An environmental scan.Sleep advances : a journal of the Sleep Research Society · 2024Article
- Teachers' preference for later school start times.Journal of sleep research · 2022Article
- Sleep improvements on days with later school starts persist after 1 year in a flexible start system.Scientific reports · 2022Article
- Sleep in the time of COVID-19: findings from 17000 school-aged children and adolescents in the UK during the first national lockdown.Sleep advances : a journal of the Sleep Research Society · 2022Article
- The Relationship between Sleep, Obesity, and Metabolic Health in Adolescents - a Review.Current opinion in endocrine and metabolic research · 2021Article
- Fit to Study: Reflections on designing and implementing a large-scale randomized controlled trial in secondary schools.Trends in neuroscience and education · 2020Review
- The challenges of adolescent sleep.Interface focus · 2020Review
- Later School Start Time: The Impact of Sleep on Academic Performance and Health in the Adolescent Population.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2020Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveLater school start times for adolescents have been implemented in the US and associated benefits found, although no randomised controlled trials (RCT) have been undertaken. The objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of two school interventions in the UK, a delayed start time and a sleep education programme, on students' academic performance, sleep outcomes and health-related quality of life.
methodsThe study had an RCT design to enable an investigation into the differential effects of two interventions or a combination of both: schools were to delay their start time to 10:00am and/or provide a classroom-based sleep education programme. The recruitment target was 100 state (non-fee-paying) secondary schools. Participants were to be students in Year 10/11 (14-16-year-olds).
resultsDespite much media coverage, only two schools volunteered to take part in the RCT. The main challenges faced in recruitment fell under three categories: research design, school, and project-specific issues. The delayed start time and prospect of randomisation to this intervention were the overwhelming reasons cited for not taking part. Facilitators and barriers to research were identified. Recommendations include carrying out a feasibility study prior to a main trial, allowing adequate time for recruitment, involving stakeholders throughout the decision-making process, incorporating independent (fee-paying) schools in recruitment, focusing on students not taking important examinations or involving an older year group with greater independence.
conclusionThe Teensleep study provides supporting evidence that evaluating the effects of a change in school start times through an RCT is unfeasible in the UK.
Indexed as
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.