Talks about mixed feelings toward change helped students put off schoolwork less
Who it’s about: Students
- Helped
Students who talked through mixed feelings about change and made a plan put off schoolwork less than the other group.
- Action: Talk through your mixed feelings about changingtested
- Rule: Make it concrete and specifictested
- Rule: With a coach or therapistused
Small trial, groups not picked at random of 40 students at a university counselling centre in Iran · vs students who got no treatment · they rated themselves · ⚠ numbers unreliable
The study
Who took part
40 students at a university help centre in Saravan, Iran. They felt anxious around other people and put off schoolwork. They were about 22 on average.
What they did
One group had eight 70-minute counselling sessions, two a week. They talked through their mixed feelings about changing and built a concrete plan with goals and steps. The other group got no treatment.
What happened
Students in the counselling group rated themselves as putting off schoolwork less at the end than the other group. The paper's text and table disagree about how big the effect was, so we can't give a size. It also says both that groups were picked at random and that they weren't. There was no later check.
Source
Investigating the Effectiveness of Motivational Interviewing on Social Anxiety and Academic Procrastination among Students (2024)
DOI: 10.61838/kman.jayps.5.3.6 (opens in a new tab)Tools in this study
Action3
Talk through your mixed feelings about changingMotivational-interviewing style: explore ambivalence and draw out your own reasons to change.
