The Effect of Sleep Pattern Modification on Increasing Academic Self-efficacy of Elementary School Students

Background: Self-efficacy beliefs can affect the enhancement of the skill levels of people in different conditions. Yet different cognitive and non-cognitive factors can cause decreasing self-confidence and declining academic self-efficacy; these factors include sleep disorder. The current study is done with the aim of examining the role of sleep pattern correction on increasing academic self-efficacy of elementary students. Method: The present study has used pre-test post-test quasi-experimental design with control group, encompassing all of female sixth grade students of Kerman elementary schools in the academic year 2019-2020. The initial population comprised of 341 individuals, from whom 40 students with the highest scores in sleep disorders and the lowest scores in academic self-efficacy were selected as the participants of the study. They were then randomly assigned into the experimental and control groups. The data collection instruments included the Sleep Disorder Scale for Children designed by Bruni (1996) and the Academic Self-Efficacy Questionnaire by Mecca Ilroy and Bunting (2002). The experimental group received sleep-related trainings for 6 weekly sessions, along with the program for sleep pattern correction based on the model of Barbaresi et al. (2005). After the end of the treatment, post-tests were distributed among both groups. Results: Sleep pattern correction was revealed to have a significant effect on academic self-efficacy of elementary students, with an effectiveness rate of 48.9%. Conclusion: The results of the present study indicated that sleep pattern correction can help strengthening the academic self-efficacy of elementary students. And thus, it might be said that in case children have a regular sleep pattern, they will obtain better test results. It is recommended that parents attempt to arrange a regular sleep program for children.