Committed action: An initial study on its association to procrastination in academic settings

Explaining the changes in procrastination in an ACT-based course - psychological flexibility and time and effort management as mediators

Introduction

The aim of our study is to explore the relationship between procrastination, time management skills and psychological flexibility and the changes in them during an Acceptance and Commitment therapy (ACT)-based course that included time management training. We also explored the effects of time management skills and psychological flexibility on procrastination. The study used an experimental design in an ACT-based well-being course that included time management training.

Methods

The participants were 109 students taking the course and 27 waiting list students. Analyses were conducted with Pearson correlation, mixed ANOVA and causal mediation analysis.

Results and discussion

Our results show that time management skills, psychological flexibility and procrastination were related to each other, and all changed during the course. In addition, change in both time management and psychological flexibility had an impact on the change in procrastination during the course. The results show that both time management and psychological flexibility influence the change in procrastination during an ACT-based course.

Predictors of Procrastination in a Moderated Mediation Analysis: The Roles of Problematic Smartphone Use, Psychological Flexibility, and Gender

Research has revealed that problematic smartphone use is a cause of procrastination. This study investigated the predictive role of problematic smartphone use on procrastination with consideration of the mediating effect of psychological flexibility. The moderating role of gender in the frequency of checking smartphones was also tested in this mediational model. Of total, 471 undergraduate students (369 female, 102 male) with a mean age of 20.65 participated in the study. The study was conducted face to face in classroom settings, and the results of the analysis revealed that psychological flexibility indeed affected the relationship between problematic smart phone use and procrastination. In addition, moderated mediation analysis suggested that female university students were significantly impacted. Finally, it was observed that psychological flexibility played a significant role amongst the female university students surveyed in the relationship between problematic smart phone use and procrastination.

Validity evidence of the Academic Procrastination Scale for undergraduates

Abstract The objective of this study is to analyze the validity evidence of the Academic Procrastination Scale (APS) in a sample consisting of 1979 students from public and private universities, from different courses, 67% of the students being women, aged 18 to 68 years old (M = 22.84). The principal component analysis revealed two components, also validated by confirmatory analysis, which showed a good overall fit of a two-dimensional model: Daily Study Procrastination (a = 0.75) and Exam Study Procrastination (a = 0.75). Internal consistency was estimated through Cronbach’s alpha, obtaining 0.83 for the total scale. The study concludes that APS has satisfactory psychometric properties and suggests further validation studies and also analysis of academic procrastination in higher education students.

Validation of the Committed Action Questionnaire-8 and Its Mediating Role Between Experiential Avoidance and Life Satisfaction Among Chinese University Students

Background: Committed action is one of the core processes of psychological flexibility derived from acceptance and commitment therapy. It has not been widely investigated in mainland China as appropriate measures are lacking. The current study aimed to validate a Chinese (Mandarin) version of the Committed Action Questionnaire (CAQ-8) in a non-clinical college sample and to explore whether committed action would have a mediating effect in the association between experiential avoidance (EA) and life satisfaction.

Methods: We translated the CAQ-8 into Chinese (Mandarin). A total of 913 Chinese undergraduates completed a set of questionnaires measuring committed action, EA, mindful awareness, anxiety, depression, stress, and life satisfaction. For test–retest reliability, 167 respondents completed the CAQ-8 again 4 weeks later.

Results: The entire scale of CAQ-8 (Mandarin) and two subscales showed adequate internal consistency and acceptable test–retest reliability. Confirmatory factor analyses confirmed the two-factor structure and the convergent and criterion validity were acceptable. Committed action was correlated with less EA, more mindful awareness, less depressive symptoms, less anxiety, less stress, and more life satisfaction. In bootstrap mediation analyses, committed action partially mediated the association between EA and life satisfaction.

Conclusion: The results suggest that the CAQ-8 (Mandarin) is a brief, psychometrically sound instrument to investigate committed action in Chinese populations, and the relationship between EA and life satisfaction was partially explained by committed action. This study provides new information about the usefulness of CAQ-8 and supports the assumption that committed action may be considered a promising factors for improving life satisfaction who have involved in EA among an educated non-clinical population.

Pure Procrastination Scale e Irrational Procrastination Scale: Validation of a Brazilian Version

Abstract This study aimed to adapt and validate the Irrational Procrastination Scale (IPS) and Pure Procrastination Scale (PPS) for Brazilian Portuguese. Therefore, 2666 university students were invited to participate in the study (M = 26.08; SD = 6.6; 77% female). The factorial structures were analyzed through exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses. The validity was investigated through Pearson’s correlations between the subscales of the Academic Procrastination Questionnaire ─ Negative Consequences and DASS-21. The reliability of the scales and their factors were evaluated through Cronbach’s alpha. The results indicated a one-dimensional IPS structure and a three-factor solution with a higher-order factor for PPS. Significant correlations were found between the IPS and PPS with the other measurements, revealing concurrent and convergent validity for both scales. The instruments showed good internal consistency, with alphas ranging from 0.80 to 0.91.

Does Procrastination Always Predict Lower Life Satisfaction? A Study on the Moderation Effect of Self-Regulation in China and the United Kingdom

Aims: Studies have shown the predictive effects of procrastination and self-regulation on wellbeing. However, little is known about the interactive effect between procrastination and self-regulation. This study explores whether self-regulation moderates the link between procrastination and wellbeing among British and Chinese young adults. Methods: This study adopted self-reported questionnaire survey among two hundred and sixty-five British and four hundred and seventy-five Chinese participants. SPSS and AMOS were used to test the moderation effect. Multi-group path analysis was used to compare the two countries. Results: Data analysis shows that self-regulation was a significant moderator of the relationship between procrastination and life satisfaction in the Chinese sample but not in the British sample. Procrastination predicted low life satisfaction only among the Chinese students with low self-regulation. Discussion: This study indicates that the effects of procrastination on wellbeing could be changed at different levels of self-regulation. Cultural difference can be an important factor when investigating procrastination and its impacts.

Promoting university students’ well-being and studying with an acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT)-based intervention

Students’ poor well-being is a serious problem in higher education. In part, this problem is related to the problems in studying as poorer study skills are related to poorer well-being. Both students’ study skills and their well-being should be enhanced in higher education, but effective ways to do this are needed. The aim of this study was to explore students’ experiences of an ACT-based online, 8-week course on university students’ well-being and studying. Data were collected in two ways: a) with qualitative data consisting of learning journals (n = 97) and with b) a pre- and post-questionnaire (n = 143) during the course. The students’ scores on well-being, psychological flexibility, and time and effort management skills improved, and stress levels decreased during the course. Qualitative analyses showed that the students benefited from the course in many ways, both in terms of studying and well-being; their studying and time management skills had improved and they had learnt stress management skills and how to cope with their negative thoughts. We argue that supporting students’ well-being, as well as their study skills with ACT-based course in higher education studies, can lead to more effective studying.

Understanding procrastination: A case of a study skills course

Procrastination is consistently viewed as problematic to academic success and students’ general well-being. There are prevailing questions regarding the underlying and maintaining mechanisms of procrastination which are yet to be learnt. The aim of the present study was to combine different ways to explain procrastination and explore how students’ time and effort management skills, psychological flexibility and academic self-efficacy are connected to procrastination as they have been commonly addressed separately in previous studies. The data were collected from 135 students who participated in a voluntary time management and well-being course in autumn 2019. The results showed that students’ ability to organize their time and effort has the strongest association with procrastination out of the variables included in the study. Psychological flexibility also has a strong individual role in explaining procrastination along with time and effort management skills. Surprisingly, academic self-efficacy did not have a direct association with procrastination. Interestingly, our findings further suggest that time and effort management and psychological flexibility are closely related and appear to go hand in hand and, thus, both need to be considered when the aim is to reduce procrastination. The implications of the findings are further discussed.

Development of a Web-Based Intervention Course to Promote Students' Well-Being and Studying in Universities: Protocol for an Experimental Study Design

BACKGROUND

The decline in the well-being among university students well as increasing dropouts has become a serious issue in universities around the world. Thus, effective ways to support students' well-being and their ability to study are highly needed.

OBJECTIVE

The purpose of this study was to build an intervention course for university students, which promotes both students' well-being as well as their learning and study skills, and to describe the experimental study design that explores the effects of this intervention course.

METHODS

Research has shown that psychological flexibility has a great effect on the well-being as well as the study skills of students pursuing higher education. The basis of our intervention course was to promote psychological flexibility and students' study skills with the help of peer support and reflection.

RESULTS

This course was offered as a voluntary course to all the students at the University of Helsinki twice during the academic year 2020-2021. The first course was from October to December and the second course was from January to March. This course was advertised in fall 2020 through social media and by different student organizations and program leaders at different faculties of the University of Helsinki. As of October 2020, we enrolled 566 students comprising 310 students for the course in fall 2020 and 256 students for the course in spring 2021. Of the 256 students who enrolled in the second course, 170 students voluntarily participated in this study and they answered the questionnaires, including all the measures, simultaneously with the participants in the first group and thus served as the control group. The effect of this course will be measured with multiple data, including questionnaire data, reflective journals, and physiological data of well-being with a longitudinal experimental design. This research very strictly follows the ethical guidelines drawn up by the Finnish National Board on Research Integrity. We expect to publish the results of this study in fall 2021 at the latest.

CONCLUSIONS

We argue that a web-based, 8-week intervention course, which promotes both student well-being and their study skills, is a good way to support students pursuing higher education, and both aspects should be considered when supporting university students.

INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER (IRRID)

DERR1-10.2196/23613.

Exploring the potential of acceptance and commitment therapy model in self-care behaviour in persons with heart failure

Aim

This study examined the interaction among cognitive fusion, mindfulness and committed action on the self-care behaviour in person with heart failure as guided by the acceptance and commitment therapy model.

Design

An exploratory cross-sectional design was used.

Method

Participants with heart failure from in-patients setting (N = 165) were recruited from two major regional hospitals. Data were collected using self-report questionnaires of the study variables and demographic characteristics. Data were analysed using Hayes SPSS process macros.

Results

Based on the acceptance and commitment therapy model propositions, all main and interaction effects, except for cognitive fusion, were significant. The current study showed that the main effect of the study variables on self-care behaviour was insufficient and adding complex interactions between these variables improved the model fit, as it was suggested by the acceptance and commitment therapy model.

Piloting a New Model for Treating Music Performance Anxiety: Training a Singing Teacher to Use Acceptance and Commitment Coaching With a Student

Thus far, treatments for music performance anxiety (MPA) have focused primarily on interventions administered by psychologists and mental health clinicians with training and education in psychotherapy. While these interventions are promising or even efficacious, many musicians prefer not to work with a psychotherapist due to stigma and lack of time/access. Student musicians are particularly vulnerable to developing MPA, and while they may prefer consulting with their teachers about MPA over psychotherapists, many teachers feel unqualified to help. Here, we investigated an alternative intervention model, in which a clinical psychologist with MPA expertise trained a singing teacher with no training or education in psychotherapy to use an evidence-based coaching model, Acceptance and Commitment Coaching (ACC), with a student vocalist with problematic MPA, in a single-subject design format. ACC is a version of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) that has been used under various names with non-clinical populations to help enhance psychological flexibility, e.g., with athletes, at the workplace, with undergraduates, and others. The teacher received approximately seven hours of ACC training via Skype. In turn, she provided six one-hour ACC sessions to a university student vocalist. Materials for the training and coaching sessions were taken from an ACC book and an ACT-based self-help book for musicians, and the teacher also adhered to a GROW model of coaching. The student made clinically significant improvements in two ACT-based processes believed to correlate with improved psychological flexibility in previous ACT for MPA psychotherapy research, i.e., acceptance of MPA-related discomfort and defusion from MPA-related thoughts. The student also reported a significant shift had occurred in his thinking: he became more willing to have his MPA, and so he volunteered to sing in classes early in the upcoming semester, and he auditioned for & won a lead role in a musical, both of which he previously avoided doing. ACC appears to be a promising MPA intervention that can be administered by a music teacher without training or education in psychotherapy, and it may help schools who do not employ psychologists and are therefore unable to follow best practice guidelines for treating MPA.

Pilot study of a Web-based acceptance and commitment therapy intervention for university students to reduce academic procrastination

Objective: This pilot study pursued two aims. The first was to investigate the feasibility and acceptability of a Web-based acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) intervention to reduce academic procrastination among university students. The second aim was to test the effectiveness of the intervention on procrastination and committed actions. Participants: The sample was comprised of Canadian university students (n = 36) that participated in the intervention between September 2016 and April 2017. Methods: The study relied on a prepost research design. Results: The intervention appears feasible, acceptable, and valuable to students. A significant reduction in procrastination and a significant improvement in committed actions were found between pre and postintervention. The effect sizes for these results were medium. Conclusions: Results provide preliminary support for the feasibility and effectiveness of a Web-based ACT intervention for academic procrastination. Results also highlight some aspects that need to be improved for further development.

A Randomized Control Trial to Evaluate the Use of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) to Increase Academic Performance and Psychological Flexibility in Graduate Students

Graduate students experience high levels of demand in their degree programs, which often results in difficulty maintaining their academic performance and managing their distress. The present study examined the effectiveness of a 6-week values clarification and committed action training program derived from acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) to increase academic performance and psychological flexibility of graduate students in a behavior analysis and therapy program by comparing a Values intervention group to a Study Tips active treatment control group on measures of academic performance, psychological flexibility, values-driven behavior, and stress. The results suggest that the Values group demonstrated statistically significant improvements in academic performance (t (32) = 1.902, p < 0.05), psychological flexibility (t (32) = 1.895, p < .05), and ratings of the importance of education-related values (t (32) = 2.013, p < .05) compared to the control group, and nonsignificant improvements in reports of consistency with education-related values (t (32) = 0.7204, p > .05) and perceived stress (t (32) = 1.521, p > .05). The Values group also demonstrated a higher score for social validity than the control group following the intervention (t (32) = 2.449, p < .05).