Online insomnia therapy improved questionnaire outcomes compared with waiting
Hong Kong adults with mild-to-moderate insomnia reported greater improvements after online self-help therapy than waiting-list participants. The comparison and short follow-up limit conclusions about lasting effects or performance against other treatments.
Based on the published abstract. The full paper may contain additional methods, results and limitations.
The 30-second takeaway
Among community adults with mild-to-moderate insomnia, online self-help cognitive behavioral therapy produced greater questionnaire improvements than waiting, including insomnia symptoms, mood and daily functioning. Differences were reported at both post-treatment assessments, with effects across outcomes described as small to medium. The abstract does not establish durability beyond the follow-up or superiority over another active treatment.
The comparison was with waiting rather than an active treatment. Outcomes were questionnaire-based, follow-up was short, and the abstract gives no exact symptom changes or outcome-specific confidence intervals.
What researchers found
Questionnaire-rated insomnia symptoms
Compared with a waiting list, immediately after treatment and 4 weeks later. The abstract does not report the exact symptom-score difference.
Broader questionnaire changes
Researchers also reported greater improvements in depressive and anxiety symptoms, thinking difficulties, work and social difficulties, well-being and health-related quality of life. These were questionnaire outcomes; the abstract does not describe separately measured clinical diagnoses or objective sleep recordings.
A possible explanatory pathway
Pre-sleep arousal, meaning heightened activation before sleep, statistically helped explain the insomnia result. This suggests a possible pathway, but the analysis does not prove that changing arousal caused improvement or that it was the program's only mechanism.
The original publication
Effectiveness of internet-based self-help cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) among community adults: A randomized controlled trial.
Chan KL, Pau NHY, Poon SFO et al.
Appl Psychol Health Well Being · 2025
- PubMed ID
- 40528280
- Record checked
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