Effectiveness of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) in Mitigating Academic Procrastination and its Moderating Factors among nursing students
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17533/udea.iee.v43n2e03Keywords:
procrastination, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, self-concept, students, nursingAbstract
Objective. To assess the effect of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) on academic procrastination and its moderating factors among nursing students.
Methods. True experimental pre-test and post-test research design was adopted. The setting comprised of private nursing colleges of Punjab, India. A screening was done among 209 nursing students, 43 (20.57%) were procrastinators, which were assigned randomly to the intervention (n=19) and control (n=24) groups. The intervention was administered during six weeks, consisting of weekly one-hour modules that focused on the core components of ACT (Present Moment Contact, Defusion, Acceptance, Self as Context, Values, and: Commitment to Action). The effect of the intervention was measured after 6th week through the scales: (i) Procrastination assessment Scale, (ii) Acceptance and action questionnaire-II (AAQ-II) and (iii) Student time management scale (STMS). A session of ACT was scheduled for the control group following the post-test. Study has been registered under Clinical Trail Registry of India (REF/2022/12/061719). Data was analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics.
Results. Post intervention assessment after 6 weeks revealed reduction in academic procrastination among the nursing students (mean difference -8.61, Standard error 0.35, p-value=0.01). Intervention also led to improvement in time management skills (mean difference 9.98, Standard error 0.32, p-value=0.001). Additionally, intervention results in improving psychological flexibility among the nursing students (mean difference -4.72, Standard error 0.49, p-value=0.02).
Conclusion. The study found ACT can reduce academic procrastination, and in the clinical setting, can and improve the time management, psychological flexibility among nursing students.
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