Six weekly group sessions on accepting thoughts cut putting off schoolwork in nursing students
Who it’s about: Students
- Helped
Students who had six sessions on accepting thoughts and acting on values put off schoolwork less than the waiting group.
- Action: Notice the unpleasant feeling and start anywaytested
- Action: Clarify what matters to youtested
- Rule: Practise with a groupused
Small randomised trial of 43 nursing students who put things off · vs students who waited for the sessions · they rated themselves · ⚠ whole groups were assigned, not people; groups differed at the start
The study
Who took part
43 nursing students from two private colleges in Punjab, India, mostly aged 18 to 25. They were picked from 209 students because they put things off a lot.
What they did
One group of 19 had six weekly 1-hour sessions in groups of 8 to 10, with homework. They practised noticing the present moment, stepping back from thoughts, accepting discomfort, finding what matters to them and acting on it. The other 24 got nothing until the study ended.
What happened
At the end, the session group rated themselves as putting off schoolwork less than the waiting group. They also rated their time management better and felt less stuck in unhelpful thoughts and feelings. Whole colleges, not single students, were put into groups, scores from the start weren't reported, and nobody was checked again later.
Source
Effectiveness of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) in Mitigating Academic Procrastination and its Moderating Factors among nursing students (2025)
DOI: 10.17533/udea.iee.v43n2e03 (opens in a new tab)Tools in this study
Action2
Notice the unpleasant feeling and start anywayEmotion regulation: name, accept or tolerate the feeling a task brings, then begin.
