Using Behavioural Activation and Self-compassion to Cope with Academic Worry

Academic worry, conceptualised as a domain of general worry, refers to worries towards academic performance with respect to grades, assignments, class attendance, and examinations (Deffenbacher, 1980). Academic worry is the most salient factor that leads to poor academic achievement (Gibbs & Kenealey, 2022; Owens, Stevenson, & Hadwin, 2012; Putwain, Daly, Chamberlain, & Sadreddini, 2015), and is positively associated with negative psychological consequences such as anxiety, depression, and low self-esteem (Cassady & Johnson, 2002; Owens, Stevenson, & Hadwin, 2012; Yadusky-Holahan & Holahan, 1983). It is estimated that 25-40% of students experience worry and anxiety towards their academic performance and competence (Gregor, 2005; McDonald, 2001). This trial contained two interventions, behavioural activation (BA) and self-compassion (SC), which aimed to manage academic worry in university students. The intervention programs consisted of two 45-minute in-person sessions in a laboratory with computer and pen-and-paper tasks and a three- and six-month follow-up, delivered weekly by a provisional psychologist with a bachelor's (honours) degree in psychology. Beyond these two in-person sessions of interventions, no other support or consultation was provided by the provisional psychologist. Upon arrival at the first in-person session and after consenting, all participants were asked to complete questionnaires assessing academic worry, general worry, experiential avoidance, intolerance of uncertainty, self-compassion, and behavioural activation. Next, participants were asked to write about an academic-related issue that had been worrying them and reflected on their thoughts, feelings, and behaviours, Following this, they were randomly assigned to different conditions. The BA program was based on Chen et al.'s (2013) behavioural activation program for excessive worry, which was adopted for academic worry in the current study. The program included psychoeducation, activity monitoring (identifying thoughts, feelings and behaviours related to academic avoidance), identifying goals and values related to the academic issues, activity scheduling, and homework that focused on activity scheduling, where participants selected up to two activities in an activity planner to help achieve a specific academic goal. Participants were required to record their practice in a worksheet to be reviewed at the second session. The SC program was based on Neff's (2003) self-compassion, which comprised three interconnected components: self-kindness, common humanity, and mindfulness. The program began by introducing the key concepts of self-compassion and how to apply it in the context of academic worry, followed by a practice of self-kindness, common humanity, and mindfulness in responding to their academic issue through a guided audio recording with instructions. Homework was assigned for the participants to practice self-compassion between sessions and recorded their practice in a worksheet to be reviewed at the second session. The second session was undertaken one week later, which began with participants’ brief reflection on what they had learned in the first session, followed by a review of their respective practice during the week in the SC and BA conditions to ensure their adherence to the respective program, At the end of the second session, all participants completed the post-intervention questionnaires including the same measures as those completed before the interventions. Participants were informed of the follow-up studies and are sent a link to the follow-up questionnaires three and six months after the completion of the second session.