Group lessons on positive thinking and goals helped teenage girls put off schoolwork less
Who it’s about: Students
- Helped
Girls who had group lessons on good thoughts and goals put off schoolwork less than the waiting group.
- Action: Challenge unhelpful thoughtstested
- Action: Set a specific goaltested
- Rule: Practise with a groupused
Small randomised trial of 30 teenage girls at high school in Iran · vs girls still waiting for the lessons · they rated themselves · ⚠ numbers unreliable; many people dropped out
The study
Who took part
30 girls aged 14 to 15 at a high school in Kermanshah, Iran, with 15 in each group. The paper also says 120 students were picked, which does not match.
What they did
One group had eight 90-minute group sessions, twice a week. They learned positive thinking, how to spot and replace unhelpful beliefs, kind self-talk, problem-solving and setting goals. The other group waited and got the same sessions after the study ended.
What happened
At the end, the lesson group rated themselves as putting off schoolwork much less than at the start, about a third less. The waiting group stayed about the same. Some of the paper's numbers don't match each other, there was no later check, and we don't know how many dropped out.
Source
The Effectiveness of Positive Thinking Skills on Academic Procrastination of High School Female Students Kermanshah City (2017)
DOI: 10.5812/ijvlms.11784 (opens in a new tab)Tools in this study
Action5
Challenge unhelpful thoughtsCognitive restructuring of beliefs such as perfectionism or catastrophising.
