The effectiveness of procrastination management training on the enhancement of self-efficacy and learning strategies, and reduction of procrastination and avoidance of failure

Considering the complexity of its cognitive, emotional and behavioral components, procrastination takes many forms, of which the most common form is academic procrastination. The purpose of the present study was to determine the effectiveness of procrastination management training on the enhancement of self-efficacy and learning strategies, and the reduction of procrastination and avoidance of failure in female students. The population in this study included all female students who were studying during the 2013-14 academic year. The sample consisted of 30 female students, who were selected via random sampling. The instruments of this study included the Academic Procrastination Orientation Questionnaire (APOQ), Motivational Cognitive Inventory (MCI) and Motivation and Engagement Scale (MES). Results showed that procrastination management training caused significant improvement in students’ expectancy for success, task-value, organization, rehearsal, metacognitive self-regulation and self-efficacy. Also, the results indicated that procrastination management training caused significant decrease in students’ procrastination and failure-avoidance. Most of the difference between the experimental and the control group were in students’ procrastination, self-efficacy, and metacognition. The finding of the present study confirm that procrastination management training enhances cognitive and motivational strategies and thus it is recommended that educators and therapists use this intervention for improving learning strategies and decrease procrastination.