The Effectiveness of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy on Procrastination in University Students

Abstract

This study aims to examine the effects of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) on procrastination in university students and analyze the psychological and behavioral measures of procrastination. We assigned 22 participants to an experimental group that received a 60-minute ACT program, and 25 participants to a control group that did not receive the ACT program. We assessed the task achievement rate for 7 days for the behavioral indicator and the procrastination rate for the psychological indicator. We also administered Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ) and Acceptance and Action Questionnaire-II (AAQ-II) to assess the effect of ACT. All measures were assessed before and after the program. Analysis of changes in the four indices showed that the experimental group reported an improvement in both the task achievement rate and the procrastination rate over the 7-day period, but did not report any significant difference in the scores of FFMQ and-AAQ-II. Therefore, ACT-based programs are effective for improving the psychological and behavioral aspects of procrastination, but it is necessary to examine the effects of each intervention program.