Screening for orthosomnia: a reliability generalization meta-analysis of the Anxiety and Preoccupation about Sleep Questionnaire (APSQ)

Abstract

This mini-meta-analysis evaluated the internal consistency of the Anxiety and Preoccupation about Sleep Questionnaire (APSQ) across existing studies to assess its potential as an orthosomnia (an obsessive preoccupation with achieving perfect sleep) screening tool. A systematic literature search identified four studies with 2,506 participants using English, Swedish, Turkish, and Arabic versions. Cronbach’s alpha ranged from 0.91 to 0.95 across studies. The APSQ demonstrated high overall internal consistency reliability (pooled Cronbach’s alpha of the entire ASPQ = 0.93, 95% CI 0.91–0.94), suggesting utility for screening orthosomnia symptoms. The pooled Cronbach’s alpha of the first and second factors of the ASPQ were: 0.91 (95% CI 0.89–0.93) and 0.87 (95% CI 0.84–0.89), respectively. APSQ demonstrated high overall internal consistency reliability; however, limited linguistic/cultural representation and significant heterogeneity across studies impact generalizability.