Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and Cognitive–Behavioral Therapy as Treatments for Academic Procrastination

Abstract

Objective: This study tested the efficacy of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), compared with Cognitive–Behavioral Therapy (CBT), in alleviating academic procrastination. Method: A total of 60 (53.3% male) undergraduates suffering from academic procrastination were randomly assigned to two treatment groups (ACT and CBT) and a control group. The procrastination symptoms and related psychological mechanisms were assessed immediately after the closure of treatment and at 3-month follow-up (FU). Results: Both therapies showed remarkable short-term effects in decreasing procrastination, but ACT had a better long-term effect. Participants achieved self-esteem enhancement through treatment of both ACT and CBT. While ACT significantly decreased negative affect and improved neuroticism, CBT had a stronger effect on time management. Conclusion: The findings suggest that both CBT and ACT are effective interventions for procrastinators but may have different therapeutic mechanisms.

Academic procrastination and goal accomplishment: A combined experimental and individual differences investigation

“…Taken together with other intervention studies that similarly offered some promising but limited evidence (e.g., Ariely & Wertenbroch, 2002; Ozer et al, 2013; Tuckman, 1998; Tuckman & Schouwenburg, 2004; Wang et al, 2015), these studies (Glick & Orsillo, 2015; Häfner et al, 2014) suggest that, although it may not be easy to reduce academic procrastination, interventions that target goal-related processes may help students achieve specific academic goals.…”

“…Given that procrastination shows some traitlike characteristic (e.g., Schouwenburg & Lay, 1995; Steel, 2007), it is possible that successful interventions may require more intensive and longer treatment programs to produce measurable improvements in academic procrastination. Unfortunately, some existing studies (Rozental et al, 2015a, 2015b; Toker & Avci, 2015; Wang et al, 2015) that administered extended interventions (e.g., 8-10 weeks) trained participants on multiple cognitive and/or acceptance-based behavioral strategies (e.g., cognitive restructuring, addressing distortions and irrational thoughts, and accepting emotions as natural). Thus, it is currently unclear whether the training gains demonstrated in these studies were due to the length of training, the breadth of the skills trained in the intervention, or both.…”

“…However, intervention studies that have targeted academic procrastination are still limited in number (e.g., Ariely & Wertenbroch, 2002; Gieselmann, Pietrowsky, 2016, Toker & Avci, 2015; Tuckman, 1998; Tuckman & Schouwenburg, 2004). Moreover, although some intervention studies on academic procrastination have focused on cognitive behavioral strategies, such as identifying and challenging irrational thoughts (Ozer, Demir, & Ferrari, 2013; Toker & Avci, 2015; Wang et al, 2015), only a few have targeted goal-management processes (Glick & Orsillo, 2015; Häfner, Oberst, & Stock, 2014). …”

فعالیة العلاج بالتقبل والالتزام فی خفض مستوى ممارسة الألعاب الالکترونیة لدى المراهقین

“…In addition, the results revealed the continuity effectiveness of the counseling program in reducing the level of electronic gaming by adolescents. (Walsh et al, 2006;Anderson et al, 2004                      (Hayes et al, 1999;Hayes et al, 2001;Hayes, 2004;Barnes-Homes el al., 2004;Mc-Hugh et al, 2004;Hayes & Strosahl, 2010;Hayes et al 2006;Walser & Westrup, 2007;, Olson et al, 2008;Peterson et al, 2009;Ruiz, 2010;Hayes et al 2012;Twohig, 2012;Wang et al, 2015;Nourian & Aghaei, 2015;Pona, 2015;Fard et al, 2016;Norouzi et al, 2017;Casey et al, 2018 Commitment Therapy (ExACT) compared to a supervised exercise programme for adults with chronic pain: study protocol for a randomised controlled trial.                          …”

Evaluation of a web-based Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) program to increase self-care and mental health skills in university students

“…In university student samples, ACT has been effective in a variety of contexts, for example: in improving academic performance and education values (Chase et al, 2013;Levin, Pistorello, Hayes, Seeley, & Levin, 2015;Paliliunas, Belisle, & Dixon, 2018;Sandoz, Kellum, & Wilson, 2017); in a range of personal and therapeutic outcomes in clinical psychology students (Pakenham, 2015a;Stafford-Brown & Pakenham, 2012); in improving depression and quality of life (Eustis et al, 2018;Rasanen et al, 2016); in improving mental health in Japanese students studying abroad (Muto, Hayes, & Jeffcoat, 2011); for chronic skin picking (Twohig, Hayes, & Masuda, 2006b); procrastination (Wang et al, 2016); and lowering test anxiety (Brown et al, 2011). The next section is an indepth review of ACT intervention studies with student populations.…”