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Treatment preferences and help seeking experiences of Australian adults with insomnia

Jenny Haycock et al.

Australian Psychologist2025https://doi.org/10.1080/00050067.2025.2534388article
ABDC B
Weight
0.41

Abstract

Evidence-based insomnia guidelines recommend Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for insomnia (CBTi) as the first-line treatment. However, many people with insomnia are prescribed sedative-hypnotic medications. To understand this gap between guidelines and practice, this study surveyed people seeking treatment for insomnia about their help-seeking experiences and treatment preferences. Australian adults who had previously expressed interest in a clinical trial of insomnia treatments were invited to complete a detailed online survey assessing their sleep difficulties, help seeking behaviours, and treatment preferences. Among 745 adults responding to the survey (Mean±SD = 54 ± 13 years, 69% Female), 74.5% reported an Insomnia Severity Index (ISI) score ≥ 15 indicating clinical insomnia symptoms and only 3 people (0.4%) reported receiving CBTi which included behavioural components. Among respondents with clinical insomnia symptoms, 64% had discussed sleep with their general practitioner but only 16% saw a psychologist about their sleep. Lack of referral to a psychologist (44%) and concerns about costs associated with treatment (21%) were the main reasons for not seeing a psychologist. These findings highlight opportunities to directly address barriers in the management of insomnia. To improve access and use of CBTi it is important to increase public awareness and availability so more people with insomnia can access effective treatment. What is already known about this topic: (1) CBTi is the recommended first-line treatment for insomnia, but most people do not receive this evidence-based treatment. (2) People with insomnia commonly rely on medications or self-care strategies. (3) Help seeking behaviours and treatment preferences of people with insomnia are not well understood. What this topic adds: (1) Less than 1% of adults in Australia with clinical insomnia symptoms receive CBTi treatment which includes behavioural components. (2) The general public and health professionals need education about the priority of sleep and value of behavioural and cognitive treatments for insomnia. (3) Access to CBTi needs to be improved, more health professionals need to be trained to deliver CBTi and different treatment options need to be considered to improve availability and affordability.

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https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1080/00050067.2025.2534388

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@article{jenny2025,
  title        = {{Treatment preferences and help seeking experiences of Australian adults with insomnia}},
  author       = {Jenny Haycock et al.},
  journal      = {Australian Psychologist},
  year         = {2025},
  doi          = {https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1080/00050067.2025.2534388},
}

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Treatment preferences and help seeking experiences of Australian adults with insomnia

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Evidence weight

0.41

Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40

F · citation impact0.25 × 0.4 = 0.10
M · momentum0.55 × 0.15 = 0.08
V · venue signal0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03
R · text relevance †0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20

† Text relevance is estimated at 0.50 on the detail page — for your query’s actual relevance score, open this paper from a search result.