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PaperProcrastination

A coached online course helped students put things off a little less

Who it’s about: Students

A student in a checked sweater rows a small wooden boat toward the viewer, a lantern glowing on its bow.
  1. Helped

    Students who did a coached online course on unhelpful thoughts put things off a little less than the waiting group.

    Randomised trial of 403 Dutch university students who put things off · vs students still waiting for the course · they rated themselves · ⚠ many people dropped out

  2. No comparison

    Students who finished fewer lessons did not clearly improve less than those who finished more. There was no other group to compare with.

    Randomised trial of 403 Dutch university students who put things off · no comparison group · they rated themselves · ⚠ many people dropped out

The study

Who took part

403 university students in the Netherlands who scored high for putting things off. They were about 24 on average, and about 7 in 10 were women.

What they did

199 students were asked to do one online lesson of 30 to 40 minutes a week, finishing five lessons in 4 weeks. The lessons covered how putting things off works and how to challenge unhelpful thoughts, and a coach wrote feedback after each one. The other 204 students waited 4 weeks before getting the course.

What happened

After 4 weeks, the course group said they put things off a little less than the waiting group. Half of the course group improved clearly, against 28 in 100 of the waiting group. Only about half of the course group filled in the final questionnaire. On average, they finished fewer than 3 of the 5 lessons.

Source

Effectiveness of a guided internet-based intervention in reducing procrastination among university students – a randomized controlled trial (2025)

DOI: 10.1016/j.invent.2025.100878

Tools in this study

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