NCT05730101

How to Help Students Overcome Academic Procrastination

How to Help Students Overcome Academic Procrastination - Randomized-controlled Trial of Cognitive-behavioral Group and Imaginary Pills Treatment

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 115 (actual)
• Sponsor: University Hospital, Basel, Switzerland · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years – 40 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Accepted

Summary

The purpose of this study is to evaluate two different treatment methods in a sample of procrastinating students of the University of Basel and the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland. As first treatment, a cognitive-behavioral treatment has been chosen as these type of treatment already showed promising results in reducing students' procrastination behavior. The alternative to the more time-intensive cognitive-behavioral treatment is the application of imaginary pills to students suffering from procrastination. This study evaluates the potential of the cognitive-behavioral and the imaginary pill treatment to reduce procrastination in a three-arm randomized controlled trial with parallel group between-subject design.

Detailed description

Procrastination can be defined as "to voluntarily delay an intended course of action despite expecting to be worse off for the delay". Academic procrastination is limited to tasks and activities related to and/or relevant to learning and studying and manifests itself in consistently postponing studying for exams, submitting assignments late, and failing to register for classes in time. Despite the high prevalence of procrastination and the negative consequences on health and well-being, there is still no gold standard of treatment. The purpose of this study is to evaluate two different treatment methods in a sample of procrastinating students of the University of Basel and the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland. As first treatment, a cognitive-behavioral treatment has been chosen as these type of treatment already showed promising results in reducing students' procrastination behavior. The alternative to the more time-intensive cognitive-behavioral treatment is the application of imaginary pills to students suffering from procrastination. This study evaluates the potential of the cognitive-behavioral and the imaginary pill treatment to reduce procrastination in a three-arm randomized controlled trial with parallel group between-subject design.

Conditions

• Procrastination

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
OTHER	Cognitive-behavioral treatment (CBT)	In the first individual session (CBT1), together with the therapist, participants develop a behavioral and conditional model of their procrastination behavior. In the next 2 group sessions (CBT2 and CBT3), participants receive psychoeducation on procrastination. The focus is on learning the method of starting on time. In the third group session (CBT4), participants identify key procrastination-promoting thoughts and are supported to develop alternative thoughts; deepened in the second individual session (CBT5). In the next 2 group sessions (CBT 6 and CBT7), participants are informed about action planning with focus on learning to plan realistically. The last group session is a concluding session: Experiences with the methods learned and an outlook on further steps and goals are discussed. At the end of both individual sessions (CBT1 and CBT5), participants receive a link to an online survey to rate their treatment expectations (treatment expectation 1 and 2).
OTHER	Imaginary pill treatment (IP)	In the first session (IP1), participants will be asked about the nature of their procrastination behavior and receive a procedure to take an imaginary pill following a rationale of 5 steps. In the second IP session (IP2), experiences with taking the IP are discussed and the procedure of taking the IP is adapted according to previous experiences and current needs. The rationale of the second session encompasses the same five steps with small modifications: 1) discussing IP sensitive problem and adapting it if necessary, 2) building trust/belief/reality of the IP, 3) discussing the personally meaningful IP and adapting it if necessary, 4) taking the IP, 5) adapting the procedure for self-administering the IP in real life on daily basis if necessary and building adherence. At the end of both sessions, participants receive a link to an online survey to rate their treatment expectations (treatment expectation 1 and 2).

Timeline

• Start date: 2023-01-31
• Primary completion: 2024-12-22
• Completion: 2024-12-22
• First posted: 2023-02-15
• Last updated: 2025-04-29

Locations

1 site across 1 country: Switzerland