Digital Sleep Diary Self-Monitoring and Perceived Sleep Quality in Civil Engineering Students: A Pilot Pretest–Posttest Controlled Study

Sleep curtailment and poor subjective sleep quality are frequently observed among university students, particularly in high-demand programs. This study evaluated whether short-term self-monitoring via a digital sleep diary is associated with changes in perceived sleep quality among civil engineering students. A pilot pretest–posttest controlled design was conducted among 20 second-year Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering students. Participants were allocated to an experimental group completing a structured digital sleep diary each morning for seven days or to a control group that continued usual routines without monitoring. Perceived sleep quality was assessed pre- and post-intervention using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). Diary data yielded 70 daily observations describing sleep duration and related behavioral/context indicators. At baseline, all participants were classified as poor sleepers (PSQI > 5) and reported short sleep duration (mean hours in bed = 5.28). The experimental group showed a larger numerical reduction in PSQI (9.45 to 8.10; change −1.35) than the control group (9.50 to 8.90; change −0.60), but the group × time interaction was not statistically significant (p = .115). Diary summaries indicated mean sleep duration of 5.60 hours, caffeine use in 45% of entries, and no within-week variation in the academic stressor indicator. A 7-day digital sleep diary produced a directional improvement in perceived sleep quality but did not yield statistically significant superiority over control in this pilot sample. Findings support diary-based self-monitoring as a feasible awareness tool while highlighting workload- and stimulant-related constraints that may limit short-term behavioral change in high-demand curricula.