Study designs of evaluations included in the review
Group design (51% of all studies were controlled trials).
Specific interventions included in the review
Short-term sleep-focused interventions: stimulus control therapy (instructional procedures designed to curtail sleep-incompatible behaviours and to regulate sleep-wake schedules); sleep restriction therapy (curtailing the amount of time spent in bed to the actual amount of sleep); relaxation therapies (e.g. muscle relaxation, biofeedback, meditation to alleviate somatic or cognitive arousal); paradoxical intention (persuasion of patient to engage in their most feared behaviour - staying awake -to induce sleep); and sleep hygiene education (regulation of health and environmental factors that may be detrimental or beneficial to sleep).
Participants included in the review
Patients with either sleep-onset, maintenance or mixed insomnia.
Outcomes assessed in the review
Sleep-onset latency, time awake after sleep-onset, number of night-time wakenings or total sleep time, all of which were based on self-reported sleep diary data.
How were decisions on the relevance of primary studies made?
Two reviewers independently assessed each study.