A co-designed program for better sleep in Australian First Nations adolescents: Protocol for the Let’s Yarn About Sleep adolescent sleep health program

Abstract The first-ever comprehensive report on the sleep health of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples (hereafter referred to as First Nations Australians) highlighted an 18% prevalence of poor sleep in First Nations youth. While sleep health is important across the lifespan, adolescence is a critical life stage with increased vulnerability to poor sleep. In adolescents, pubertal changes, social and academic commitments, and peer pressure significantly increase the risk of poor sleep, which often results in social and emotional well-being (SEWB) issues. In First Nations adolescents, high rates of SEWB issues demand effective prevention and management strategies. Evidence from non-First Nations adolescents suggests that timely prevention, identification, diagnosis, and management of poor sleep help reduce the risk and severity of SEWB issues in First Nations adolescents.