The Effectiveness of Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy on Academic Emotions and Academic Optimism of Procrastinating Students

Abstract

Background: Academic procrastination refers to the deliberate postponement of academic assignments despite being aware of the negative consequences. Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy on academic emotions and academic optimism among procrastination students. Methods: The present study was a semi-intervention type. The statistical population of the study consists of all procrastinating students of Payame Noor University, Bostan Abad Branch, who were studying in the academic year 2020. The study sample included 30 undergraduate students who were selected by convenience sampling and randomly divided into two groups (15 persons in the intervention group and 15 persons in the control group). Also, the intervention group was treated for eight sessions of one hour based on Kabat Zinn treatment protocol. To collect data, Tuckman Procrastination Questionnaire, Pekrun Academic Emotions (2002), and Academic Optimism Questionnaire were used. To analyze the data, covariance was used, which was analyzed with SPSS-23. Results: The results showed that mindfulness-based cognitive therapy increased positive emotions such as pleasure (P < 0.01), hope (P < 0.01) pride (P < 0.01), and decreased negative emotions, i.e., anger (P < 0.01), anxiety (P < 0.01), shame (P < 0.01), disappointment (P < 0.01), and fatigue (P < 0.01) in the intervention group. Also, the results of the variable of academic optimism showed that cognitive therapy based on mindfulness was associated with an increase in the components of trust (P < 0.01) and academic emphasis (P < 0.01), while on the component of the sense of identity (P > 0.01) had no significant effect. Conclusions: Based on the findings of the present study, it was found that mindfulness training can be used as an effective intervention to moderate positive academic emotions and increase students' academic optimism.