Atypical work schedules refer to work performed outside regular daytime hours, with or without rotation. Specifically, they often include long shifts (more than eight hours per shift), weekend work, and short rest periods between shifts (less than 11 hours). Such work schedules are particularly common in sectors such as healthcare, emergency, and defense services, where continuous operation is essential to ensure the public health and safety. The impacts on workers' physical and mental health are numerous, well established, and largely attributed to the circadian and social misalignments. Despite this evidence, strategies to mitigate these consequences -particularly those affecting mental health- remain in their early stages of investigation. In this context, the presentation will first outline the atypical characteristics of the work schedules and their respective consequences on health and sleep. Following this, it will address sleep disruptions that may contribute to increased anxiety and depression in this context. Over the past decade, an increasing number of studies has developed and explored psychological interventions for sleep disruptions among workers with atypical work schedules, aiming to improve both sleep and mental health. Special attention will therefore be given to this scientific literature. Finally, the session will conclude with an open discussion and a question period on the topic.
Professor Vallières has been a psychologist since 1998, a faculty member at the École de psychologie at Université Laval since 2006, and a full professor since 2016. She is the director of the Sleep Disorders Intervention Unit at the Consultation Service of the École de psychologie at Université Laval. Professor Vallières has specialized in sleep and sleep disorders for nearly 25 years. Her research program focuses on sleep in the context of atypical work schedules and on adapting insomnia treatment for workers with atypical work schedules. She is frequently invited as a guest speaker or as an expert in clinical psychology related to atypical work schedules. Notably, she served as a consulting psychologist at the Somnos Clinic in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 2013 and 2014. From 2021 to 2025, she was invited as an expert by ANSES (a French agency) to help establish recommendations aimed at improving the health of workers with atypical schedules.
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