Battling Sleep Disturbances and Academic Procrastination in Undergraduates: A Pilot Study on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy vs. Motivational Interviewing

This pilot study aimed to preliminarily assess the effectiveness of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) vs. Motivational Interviewing (MI) in battling sleep disturbances and academic procrastination among Malaysian undergraduates. In this single-blind, quasi-experimental study, thirty undergraduate students were randomly assigned to either six online therapist-led Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) sessions (n = 15) or six online therapist-led Motivational Interviewing (MI) sessions (n = 15). The Tuckman Procrastination Scale, Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, and Psy-Flex were administered at baseline, the end of session 3, session 6, and one-month follow-up. Participants in both groups showed significant improvement in academic procrastination, sleep disturbances, and psychological flexibility(p < .001, η2 = .62), with outcomes improved progressively after three sessions, six sessions, and at the one-month follow-up. There was no statistically significant difference between the effectiveness of ACT and MI. This novel study provides preliminary support for the application of ACT and MI in reducing academic procrastination and sleep disturbances concurrently among undergraduates, with a greater number of sessions leading to better outcomes.The comparable effectiveness of both therapies implies possible flexibility in clinical practice, enabling practitioners to select an intervention based on factors like student preferences, therapist expertise, and resource availability. Future studies should explore the mechanisms and moderating factors influencing the effectiveness of these interventions through well-designed randomized controlled trials (RCTs) with larger sample sizes.