Coaching helped students reach their goals but did not cut putting things off

The study

1. 01

   Who took part

   108 students at the University of Salzburg in Austria, 85 women and 23 men, with an average age of about 22. Seven of the 115 who began were left out for not relating to the topic.

2. 02

   What they did

   Students first wrote goals about putting things off. One group then had a one-hour session alone with a coach. Another had a one-hour session in a group of 10 to 16. A third group only wrote goals and had a session later.

3. 03

   What happened

   Both coaching groups reached their own goals more than the goal-only group did, but neither coaching group put things off less. One-to-one coaching also left students more committed to their goals, and more confident of reaching them, than the goal-only group. The paper's abstract goes further than its results, so treat the claims about one-to-one coaching with care.

What the study found

1. No differenceProcrastination

   Neither one-to-one coaching nor coaching in a group made people put things off less than the goal-only group did.

   • Rule: With a coach or therapisttested
   • Rule: Practise with a groupused

   Randomised trial of 108 university students in Austria · vs the goal-only group · they rated themselves · ⚠ summary claims more than the results show

2. HelpedGoals

   Both kinds of coaching helped students reach their own goals more than the goal-only group did.

   • Rule: With a coach or therapisttested
   • Action: Set a specific goalused
   • Rule: Practise with a groupused

   Randomised trial of 108 university students in Austria · vs the goal-only group · they rated themselves · ⚠ summary claims more than the results show

3. HelpedMotivation

   After one-to-one coaching, students were more committed to their goals than the goal-only group.

   • Rule: With a coach or therapisttested
   • Action: Set a specific goalused

   Randomised trial of 108 university students in Austria · vs the goal-only group · they rated themselves · ⚠ summary claims more than the results show

4. HelpedMotivation

   After one-to-one coaching, students felt more sure of reaching their goals than the goal-only group did.

   • Rule: With a coach or therapisttested
   • Action: Set a specific goalused

   Randomised trial of 108 university students in Austria · vs the goal-only group · they rated themselves · ⚠ summary claims more than the results show

Source