This was a small pilot study of a behavioral sleep program called TranS-C. It had six sessions. The study followed 14 adolescents ages 13 to 17 years, half of them male. All of them had ADHD along with sleep problems. Everyone in the study got the program, so there was no comparison group. The researchers measured how the teens were doing before the program, right after it, and again 3 months later.
Sleep quality improved by a large amount from before to right after the program (effect size g = 1.74). The gain was still there 3 months later, though a bit smaller (g = 1.03). Before the program, most of the teens counted as poor sleepers (71.4%). That dropped to 21.4% right after and was 28.6% at follow-up.
Parents also reported that their teens paid attention better (g = 0.83) and handled daily tasks better (g = 0.69) after the program.
The authors are cautious about these results. The study was very small (14 teens), everyone got the same program, and there was no control group. They say a randomized controlled trial is needed to properly test whether the program works.
Source: Becker S, Duraccio K, Sidol C, et al.. Impact of a Behavioral Sleep Intervention in Adolescents With ADHD: Feasibility, Acceptability, and Preliminary Effectiveness From a Pilot Open Trial. Journal of Attention Disorders (2021). doi:10.1177/10870547211056965