Effectiveness of Reality Therapy and Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy in Academic Meaning and Academic Emotions of Procrastinating Students

Background: Procrastination is considered an obstacle to academic progress because increasing stress and negative consequences in the academic life of students reduce the quality and quantity of academic success. Objectives: The aim of the present study was to compare the effectiveness of reality therapy and mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) in the academic meaning and academic emotions of procrastinating students. Methods: The current study was an experimental study with a pre-post-test design. The study population included all undergraduate students of Payam Noor University, Bostanabad, East Azerbaijan province, Iran, in the academic year 2020-2021. The sample size included 45 subjects who were selected from the eligible students and divided into three groups based on random allocation using Random Number Generator software (version 1.3). The first experimental group received mindfulness training for 8 one-hour sessions, and the second experimental group received 8 one-hour sessions of reality therapy. Nevertheless, the control group did not receive any intervention. It should be noted that after the end of the study, a compressed combination of interventions was taught to the control group. To collect the data, questionnaires on procrastination (Tuckman, 1991), educational meaning (Henderson-King and Smith, 2006), and Pekrun’s academic emotions (Pekrun et al., 2002) were used. Finally, the collected data were analyzed using multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) and SPSS software (version 25). Results: The results of MANCOVA showed that both MBCT and reality therapy had significant effectiveness in increasing positive emotions and academic meaning and reducing negative emotions compared to the control group (P < 0.01). Additionally, comparing the effectiveness of interventions showed that MBCT was more effective in increasing positive emotions than reality therapy (P < 0.01). Conclusions: Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy was more effective in increasing positive emotions and academic meaning than reality therapy. However, the present findings show a promising perspective. Therefore, university and school counseling centers can pay attention to the role of mindfulness interventions and reality therapy in the academic emotions and academic meaning of students.