You will be completing a self-management project in Week 5, and your topic needs to be approved by your instructor to ensure it is behavioral, measurable, and objectively defined. Doing so ensures that you select an appropriate topic but also gets you thinking about how to operationally define behavior. a target behavior for your Week 5 Self-Management Project. your target behavior description, to your instructor for approval. Purchase the answer to view it
Title: Assessing the Efficacy of a Self-Management Intervention for Reducing Procrastination in University Students
Introduction:
Procrastination is a prevalent phenomenon among university students and has been widely recognized as a challenge to academic success. It is characterized by the tendency to delay or postpone tasks, often resulting in increased stress, reduced productivity, and suboptimal outcomes. This self-management project aims to examine the effectiveness of a targeted intervention in reducing proclivity to procrastinate among university students.
Objective:
The objective of this study is to assess the effectiveness of a self-management intervention in reducing procrastination behaviors among university students. The intervention will involve implementing a structured plan and employing specific techniques designed to enhance self-regulatory skills and improve time management.
Literature Review:
Procrastination is a complex behavior that has been widely investigated in the literature. According to Steel (2007), approximately 80-95% of students engage in procrastinatory behaviors to some extent, with 75% considering it a significant problem. Procrastination has been found to negatively impact various aspects of students’ lives, such as academic performance, well-being, and mental health (Klingsieck, 2013; Steel, 2007).
Several theoretical frameworks have been proposed to explain the underlying mechanisms of procrastination. The Temporal Motivation Theory (Steel, 2007) suggests that procrastination occurs when the perceived value of the immediate task is lower than the value of delaying the task. The Procrastination-Decision Model (Sirois & Pychyl, 2013) posits that procrastination is a result of the interplay between personality factors, motivational factors, and situational factors.
Existing research has identified various strategies that may help individuals overcome procrastination tendencies. These strategies typically involve self-regulatory techniques, goal-setting, prioritization, time management, and task monitoring (Ferrari, 2010; Gollwitzer & Sheeran, 2006).
Methodology:
Participants:
The study will recruit 60 undergraduate university students (30 males and 30 females) between the ages of 18 and 25. Participants will be recruited from various faculties within the university and will be required to provide informed consent to participate in the study.
Design:
This study will employ a pretest-posttest control group design. Participants will be randomly assigned to either an experimental group (receiving the intervention) or a control group (not receiving the intervention). The groups will be matched for baseline procrastination levels.
Materials:
The Self-Management Intervention for Procrastination (SMIP) will be developed based on existing literature and intervention studies for procrastination. The SMIP will consist of a handbook outlining various self-regulatory strategies, goal-setting techniques, time management tools, and strategies for overcoming common obstacles to productivity.
Procedure:
1. Pretest: Participants from both groups will be asked to complete the General Procrastination Scale (Lay, 1986) to assess baseline levels of procrastination. They will also provide demographic information.
2. Intervention: Participants assigned to the experimental group will receive the SMIP handbook, which they will be required to read and implement over a period of four weeks. The control group will not receive any intervention during this period.
3. Posttest: At the end of the four weeks, both groups will complete the General Procrastination Scale again to assess the impact of the intervention on their procrastination levels.
Data Analysis:
The pretest and posttest scores on the General Procrastination Scale will be analyzed using independent t-tests to determine if there are significant differences between the experimental and control groups. Additionally, effect sizes will be calculated using Cohen’s d to estimate the practical significance of any observed differences.
Expected Results:
It is hypothesized that participants in the experimental group will demonstrate lower levels of procrastination compared to the control group at the posttest stage. Additionally, it is anticipated that the self-management intervention will lead to significant reductions in procrastination behavior overall.
Conclusion:
This self-management project aims to contribute to the existing literature on procrastination interventions among university students. The findings from this study may inform the development and implementation of effective self-management strategies aimed at reducing procrastination tendencies and enhancing academic success.
