Understanding Healthy Sleep:

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Iris Byrd
5 years ago
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1 Understanding Healthy Sleep: An Educational Website for Railroaders Heidi Howarth, Ph.D. Volpe National Transportation Systems Center Sponsor: Federal Railroad Administration

2 The Problem: At-risk Population for Sleep Disorders Railroader Demographic Male Middle-aged Obesity Largely sedentary job (especially T&E crews) Unpredictable schedules; long and irregular work hours Acute and chronic sleep debt; increased risk for sleep disorders, such as obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) Sleepy workers are not safe workers 2

3 How Can We Help the Industry Abate the Risk of OSA-Related Sleepiness on the Job? Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) has sponsored the development of a web-based approach to improving the sleep health of railroaders: Railroaders' Guide to Healthy Sleep In partnership with the Volpe National Transportation Systems Center in Cambridge, MA, this website involves the collaboration of experts in sleep health from the Harvard Medical School Division of Sleep Medicine and educational media from WGBH Educational Foundation. 3

4 Project Contributors Who FRA sponsor & Volpe project manager Harvard Medical School, Division of Sleep Medicine/Brigham and Women s Hospital WGBH Educational Foundation What Domain expertise, industry connections, project oversight/management Sleep health experts Experts in educational media External contractors Independent formative and summative evaluation Writer/editor Stakeholder Feedback Panel Labor and industry insight/external feedback 4

5 Website Strategic Goals To provide railroaders scientifically-valid information on the importance of sleep proven, practical strategies tools to assess and improve their sleep health; e.g., to anonymously assess personal risk for sleep disorders 5

6 Website Independent Evaluation Goals Understand user satisfaction and utility of the website, such as through assessing increased sleep science knowledge and more positive attitudes towards sleep health practice. Evaluate the long-term effectiveness and impact of the website, such as effects on personal behavioral changes in the identification of sleep disorders and improved sleep hygiene. 6

7 Stakeholder Feedback Panel Labor and industry representation Three meetings to date Meeting #1: Stakeholder Perceptions of Important Website Themes for Target Audience Site should be personalized and engaging for railroaders Railroaders will seek strategies/countermeasures/how-tos Potential hesitancy surrounding sleep disorders screening tool Quality of life is top priority Family should be a central theme and a target audience Fatigue as recognizable keyword 7

8 Website Target Audience Primary audience: Train and Engine crews (especially those with unpredictable work schedules) on all classes of freight and passenger service on U.S. railroads Secondary audience: Other active railroaders; those who interact with, and have influence on, these railroaders Needs Assessment Results (n= 1,010) 98% male; 59% 45 years of age 53% conductors; 39% locomotive engineers 82% work a schedule that mostly changes from week to week 36% high school/ged or voc/trade school; 38% some college 57% spend less than 10 hours per week online 36% had not used web to find medical information in last 6 mo. 8

9 Website Structure Information on the site is conveyed using various media formats, including text, graphics, interactive activities, and video. The anonymous Sleep Disorders Screening Tool allows users to determine their risk for common sleep disorders, print out information explaining their results, and locate nearby sleep specialists for help if they choose. 9

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11 Topic Areas Getting Sleep Understanding Sleep Health Strategies for sleep Countermeasures The Danger Zone Link between fatigue and safety on the job Interaction: hours awake, sleep debt, body s internal clock Measuring performance (RT) Tools for assessing sleep health 11

12 Topic Areas, cont. About Sleep Disorders OSA Insomnia Restless Legs Syndrome Shift Work Sleep Disorder Narcolepsy The Science: Sleep & Health 12

13 13 Interactive Activity: What is Apnea?

14 14 What is Apnea? Interactive

15 Anonymous Sleep Disorders Screening Tool Developed by Harvard Work Hours, Health and Safety Group in the Division of Sleep Medicine, Harvard Medical School/Brigham and Women s Hospital Scales validated for sleep disorder risk assessment in other, similar demographic/shiftworker samples of police and firefighters minutes to complete OSA, Insomnia, Restless Legs Syndrome, Shift Work Sleep Disorder, Narcolepsy Notification explaining sleep disorder risk based on responses Link to zip-code lookup feature allows user to locate qualified sleep specialist in their area 15

16 16 Anonymous Sleep Disorders Screening Tool

17 Stakeholder Feedback Panel Meeting # 2 & 3 Meeting #2: Feedback on preliminary Alpha structure and design elements Suggested tweaks to home page Discussion surrounding Sleep Disorders Screening Tool Discussion of video and planned treatments Meeting #3: Beta website feedback Engaging Text heavy in places Terminology 17

18 Current and Next Steps Work continues on Beta website Launch expected early 2012 Implementation planning Phase II planning Feedback is welcome! 18

19 Questions?

Labor s Perspective: Safety and Health for Railroad Employees. The problem of fatigue in the rail industry

Labor s Perspective: Safety and Health for Railroad Employees The problem of fatigue in the rail industry Sleep Apnea is just one of many factors that may cause fatigue among operating (T&E) crews. Others