SynthesisPloS one2025
A systematic review and meta-analysis of psychological treatments to improve sleep quality in university students.
Synthesis in PloS one, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers.
What it found
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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.
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Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed.
- Effects of a Group-Based Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Sleep in Nursing Students: Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial.JMIR human factors · 2026Trial
- Always Connected, Not Always Well: The Moderating Role of Sleep Quality in the Relationship Between Nomophobia and Mental Health Among University Students in Saudi Arabia.European journal of investigation in health, psychology and education · 2026Article
- Sleep Across the Pandemic in Norwegian University and College Students: A National Repeated Cross-Sectional Analysis (2010-2023).Journal of sleep research · 2026Article
- Association of Sleep Patterns and Sleep Quality with Academic Performance Among Female University Students: Insights Supporting SDG 3 (Good Health and Well-Being).Clocks & sleep · 2026Article
- Travel-Induced Circadian and Microbiota Disturbances: Implications for Athlete Health and Performance: A Narrative Review.Nutrients · 2026Review
- College students' psychological resilience and daily recovery: a narrative review.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Review
- Poor sleep quality and loneliness among higher vocational college students: a conditional process analysis of psychological resilience and self-esteem.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Systematic review and meta-analysis of effects of standalone digital mindfulness-based interventions on sleep in adults.NPJ digital medicine · 2025Article
- Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Program to Improve Well-Being and Health in Healthcare Professionals.Journal of clinical medicine · 2025Article
- Article
- The Sleep Expectation-Reality Gap: Exploring Discrepancies Between Perceived and Ideal Sleep Duration in Primary Care Patients.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Global prevalence of insomnia symptoms in undergraduate university students: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Sleep advances : a journal of the Sleep Research Society · 2025Review
- Network characteristics of the youth's insomnia and emotional symptoms and their gender differences.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveThis paper reviews the literature evaluating psychological treatments to improve sleep quality in young adult university students.
methodParticipants (N = 6179) were young adult (aged 18-30 years) university students. Databases (PubMed, PsychInfo, EMBASE and Medline) were searched for randomized controlled trials evaluating psychological treatments for sleep disturbance in university students. The search date was 20 September 2024.
results22 original trials met inclusion criteria. Meta-analysis showed that psychological interventions outperformed control groups (n = 14) on improving sleep quality (g = 0.50, 95%CI:0.26-0.73). There were significantly different effect sizes found between studies that evaluated cognitive behaviour therapy for insomnia (CBT-I; n = 6, g = 0.72, CI: 0.43-1.02) versus studies that evaluated mindfulness interventions (n = 5, g = 0.16, 95% CI: -0.18-0.51).
conclusionsPsychological treatments improve sleep quality for young adult university students. While CBT-I showed larger effect sizes than interventions focused on mindfulness, further research is needed to verify if this reflects a true difference in the efficacy of the interventions.
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.