Effects of a single session low-threshold digital intervention for procrastination behaviors among university students (Focus): Findings from a randomized controlled trial
Open accessAbstract
Introduction: Procrastination behaviors are common among university students, and have been found to be associated with stress, symptoms of depression, anxiety, and poorer academic performance. There is a need for interventions that can reach students at scale, and therefore this study aimed to estimate the effects of a single session low-threshold digital intervention (Focus) for procrastination behaviors among university students in Sweden. Methods and analysis: A two-arm, parallel groups (1:1), single blind randomized controlled trial was conducted between February 8 to April 26, 2023. The study used email to invite university students across Sweden to participate in the trial. Both the intervention and the control group were invited to assess their current procrastination behaviors using the Pure Procrastination Scale (PPS). The intervention group immediately received feedback and behavior change advice by means of an interactive website, while the control group was shown their total PPS score without any further feedback. Students were included in the study if they scored 20 points or more on the PPS. Our primary outcome was procrastination behavior measured at 2 months post-randomization. Analyses were conducted using multilevel regression models estimated with Bayesian inference. Results: = 601) of the control group. The evidence suggested no marked difference between groups regarding any of the outcomes, although there was weak evidence of lower physical activity in the intervention group. Qualitative findings from open-ended responses uncovered a variety of views on procrastination and perceived problems that may follow. Those not feeling supported by Focus explained having troubles adopting the advice given and converting their intentions into action without more continuous support. Conclusions: Access to a single session of feedback and behavior change advice by means of an interactive website did not produce differential self-reported procrastination among university students who took the opportunity to self-assess their behaviors. The findings are limited by assessment reactivity due to screening at baseline and attrition to follow-up.
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Cites
The qualitative content analysis process
Elo, S., & Kyngäs, H. (2008) · Journal of Advanced Nursing · doi:10.1111/j.1365-2648.2007.04569.x · Cited by 22,617 · cited 1× · see citing works
“We conducted an inductive content analysis (Elo and Kyng ¨ as, 2008) of the intervention group participants ’ open-ended responses describing their needs and how the intervention did or did not support them.”
MethodSteel, P. (2007) · Psychological bulletin · doi:10.1037/0033-2909.133.1.65 · Cited by 3,417 · cited 1× · see citing works
“Procrastination is often described as a self-regulatory failure (Fernie et al., 2017) and is defined as the irrational and voluntary delay of an intended course of action despite expecting to be worse off for the delay (Steel, 2007).”
BackgroundThe relationship between procrastination and academic performance: A meta-analysis
Kim, K. R., & Seo, E. H. (2015) · Personality and Individual Differences · doi:10.1016/j.paid.2015.02.038 · Cited by 786 · cited 1× · see citing works
“Academic procrastination can be seen as a within-person risk factor for academic difficulties, and procrastination has been shown to be negatively correlated with academic performance (Kim and Seo, 2015; Kljajic and Gaudreau, 2018).”
BackgroundArousal, avoidant and decisional procrastinators: Do they exist?
Steel, P. (2010) · Personality and Individual Differences · doi:10.1016/j.paid.2010.02.025 · Cited by 514 · see citing works
Jakob, R., Harperink, S., Rudolf, A. M., Fleisch, E., Haug, S., Mair, J. L., Salamanca-Sanabria, A., & Kowatsch, T. (2022) · Journal of Medical Internet Research · doi:10.2196/35371 · Cited by 446 · see citing works
Johansson, R., Carlbring, P., Heedman, Å., Paxling, B., & Andersson, G. (2013) · PeerJ · doi:10.7717/peerj.98 · Cited by 309 · see citing works
Beutel, M. E., Klein, E. M., Aufenanger, S., Brähler, E., Dreier, M., Müller, K. W., Quiring, O., Reinecke, L., Schmutzer, G., Stark, B., et al. (2016) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0148054 · Cited by 256 · cited 1× · see citing works
“Procrastination has a negative impact on mental health and is associated with stress, symptoms of depression, and anxiety (Johansson et al., 2023; Beutel et al., 2016).”
BackgroundRozental, A., Magnusson, K., Boettcher, J., Andersson, G., & Carlbring, P. (2017) · Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology · doi:10.1037/ccp0000158 · Cited by 137 · see citing works
Johansson, F., Rozental, A., Edlund, K., Côté, P., Sundberg, T., Onell, C., Rudman, A., & Skillgate, E. (2023) · JAMA Network Open · doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.49346 · Cited by 124 · see citing works
Irrational Delay Revisited: Examining Five Procrastination Scales in a Global Sample
Svartdal, F., & Steel, P. (2017) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01927 · Cited by 107 · see citing works
Ebert, D. D., Franke, M., Kählke, F., Küchler, A., Bruffaerts, R., Mortier, P., Karyotaki, E., Alonso, J., Cuijpers, P., Berking, M., et al. (2019) · International Journal of Methods in Psychiatric Research · doi:10.1002/mpr.1754 · Cited by 105 · cited 2× · see citing works
“Treatment-seeking intentions could also increase through the use of a proactive single session intervention, as was the case in Ebert et al. (Ebert et al., 2019) where a brief intervention embedded in a mental health survey used tailored psychoeducation and information about mental health resources…”
MethodBendtsen, M. (2018) · Journal of Medical Internet Research · doi:10.2196/10873 · Cited by 105 · see citing works
Self-citationInternet-based cognitive—behavior therapy for procrastination: A randomized controlled trial.
Rozental, A., Forsell, E., Svensson, A., Andersson, G., & Carlbring, P. (2015) · Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology · doi:10.1037/ccp0000023 · Cited by 103 · cited 12× · see citing works
“Rozental et al. (Rozental et al., 2015a) evaluated guided and unguided self-help using iCBT in the general population, showing moderate effects on procrastination.”
BackgroundMethodResultInfluentialGoldberg, S. B., Sun, S., Carlbring, P., & Torous, J. (2023) · npj Digital Medicine · doi:10.1038/s41746-023-00923-7 · Cited by 75 · see citing works
Procrastination and health: A longitudinal test of the roles of stress and health behaviours
Sirois, F. M., Stride, C. B., & Pychyl, T. A. (2023) · British Journal of Health Psychology · doi:10.1111/bjhp.12658 · Cited by 52 · see citing works
Rozental, A., Forsström, D., Lindner, P., Nilsson, S., Mårtensson, L., Rizzo, A., Andersson, G., & Carlbring, P. (2018) · Behavior Therapy · doi:10.1016/j.beth.2017.08.002 · Cited by 47 · see citing works
Rozental, A., Forsström, D., Tangen, J. A., & Carlbring, P. (2015) · Internet Interventions · doi:10.1016/j.invent.2015.05.001 · Cited by 39 · see citing works
Gagnon, J., Dionne, F., Raymond, G., & Grégoire, S. (2019) · Journal of American College Health · doi:10.1080/07448481.2018.1484361 · Cited by 26 · cited 2× · see citing works
“These programs are delivered both in face-to-face and digital settings (iCBT), and both with and without additional support from a therapist (Rozental et al., 2015a; Rozental et al., 2018; Eckert et al., 2018; Gagnon et al., 2019; Lukas and Berking, 2018; Mutter et al., 2023).”
Background
Flagged first, then by citations
- Authors
- Åsberg, K., Löf, M., & Bendtsen, M.
- Affiliations
- Linköping University (SE)
- Karolinska Institutet (SE)
- Corresponding author
- Åsberg, Katarina
- Venue
- Internet Interventions
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2024-06
- Volume
- 36
- Pages
- 100741
- ISSN
- 2214-7829 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC11016779
- OpenAlex
- W4394565915
- Cited by
- 13
- References
- 18
- Citations by year
- 2026: 10 · 2025: 3
- FWCI
- 5.32
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Internet Interventions (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- KTH Publication Database DiVA (KTH Royal Institute of Technology) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Funders
- Vetenskapsrådet (2018-)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Perfectionism, Procrastination, Anxiety Studies
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Applied Psychology › Digital Mental Health Interventions
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Student Stress and Coping
- Keywords
- procrastination, university students, single-session intervention, interactive website, Pure Procrastination Scale, self-assessment, physical activity, student mental health, academic performance
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
