The Sleep Condition Indicator: a clinical screening tool to evaluate insomnia disorder

Journal article

OBJECTIVE: Describe the development and psychometric validation of a brief scale (the Sleep Condition Indicator (SCI)) to evaluate insomnia disorder in everyday clinical practice. DESIGN: The SCI was evaluated across five study samples. Content validity, internal consistency and concurrent validity were investigated. PARTICIPANTS: 30 941 individuals (71% female) completed the SCI along with other descriptive demographic and clinical information. SETTING: Data acquired on dedicated websites. RESULTS: The eight-item SCI (concerns about getting to sleep, remaining asleep, sleep quality, daytime personal functioning, daytime performance, duration of sleep problem, nights per week having a sleep problem and extent troubled by poor sleep) had robust internal consistency (α≥0.86) and showed convergent validity with the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index and Insomnia Severity Index. A two-item short-form (SCI-02: nights per week having a sleep problem, extent troubled by poor sleep), derived using linear regression modelling, correlated strongly with the SCI total score (r=0.90). CONCLUSIONS: The SCI has potential as a clinical screening tool for appraising insomnia symptoms against Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5) criteria.

Authors: Espie, C; Kyle, S; Hames, P; Gardani, M; Fleming, L

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: BMJ Publishing Group
• Journal: BMJ Open
• Volume: 4
• Issue: 3
• Pages: e004183
• Publication date: 2014-03-18
• Acceptance date: 2014-01-21
• DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2013-004183
• EISSN: 2044-6055
• Language: English
• Keywords: Sleep Medicine; SBTMR; Psychiatry