Differential Effects of Selected Psychotherapeutic Interventions on Procrastination Reduction and Improved Mathematics Achievement among Low Achieving Students

Ugwueze Stella^1, , Agbakwuru Chikwe² and Ekeh P. U²

¹Department of Psychology, College of Management and Social Sciences, Renaissance University Ugbawka Enugu, Enugu State

²Department of Educational Psychology, Guidance and Counselling, Faculty of Education, University of Port Harcourt, Nigeria

Cite this paper:
Ugwueze Stella, Agbakwuru Chikwe and Ekeh P. U. Differential Effects of Selected Psychotherapeutic Interventions on Procrastination Reduction and Improved Mathematics Achievement among Low Achieving Students. American Journal of Educational Research. 2018; 6(4):354-360. doi: 10.12691/education-6-4-9

Abstract

This study investigated the differential effects of selected psychotherapeutic interventions on procrastination reduction and improved mathematics achievement among low achieving students in Enugu State. Quasi-experimental, Pre-test, post-test, control group, research design was adopted. A purposive sampling was used to select a sample of n=36 Senior Secondary School One (SS1) students both male and female. Participants were randomly assigned to three groups ¡°A,¡± ¡°B¡± and ¡°C¡±. Cognitive-Behaviour Therapy (CBT) and Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT) interventions were used for the study. The treatment with CBT was applied to group ¡°A¡± for 15 weeks while SFBT was applied to group ¡°B¡± for 8 weeks. The instruments used include, Procrastination Assessment Scale-Students (PASS), Teacher Made Mathematics Diagnostic Test (TMMDT) and Teacher Made Mathematics Achievement Test (TMMAT). They were validated and reliability tested. Their correlation scores were, .900, .816 and .868 for the three instruments respectively. The ANCOVA result shows that F(2,32)=33.44, p=001 and a differential effects of CBT and SFBT between groups. The result showed that SFBT had more effects on procrastination reduction and also a significant difference in mathematics improvement of the students in CBT and SFBT experimental groups from pre-test and post-test scores, is rejected both at .05 and .01 levels of significance. From the study we conclude that CBT and SFBT interventions are effective on procrastination reduction and improved mathematics achievement among low achieving student but there is no gender effect. We recommend that psychotherapeutic interventions should be used to improve academic achievement in general.

Keywords:
psychotherapy CBT SFBT procrastination achieving

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