The Effectiveness of Teaching Mindfulness-Based Techniques on Academic Motivation and Academic Meaning in Students with Poor Academic Achievement

Majlesi , Neda; Gharehdaghitanourlouei , Mohammad Reza; Ghasemzadeh , Narges; Pourdel , Mojgan

Volume 14 - Articles-1403 MEJDS (2024) 14: 17 | Back to browse issues page

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Majlesi N, Gharehdaghitanourlouei M R, Ghasemzadeh N, Pourdel M. The Effectiveness of Teaching Mindfulness-Based Techniques on Academic Motivation and Academic Meaning in Students with Poor Academic Achievement. MEJDS 2024; 14 :17-17
URL: http://jdisabilstud.org/article-1-3049-en.html

The Effectiveness of Teaching Mindfulness-Based Techniques on Academic Motivation and Academic Meaning in Students with Poor Academic Achievement

Neda Majlesi¹

, Mohammad Reza Gharehdaghitanourlouei¹

, Narges Ghasemzadeh²

, Mojgan Pourdel ^*

1- MA in Personality Psychology, Islamic Azad University E-Campus, Tehran, Iran
2- MA in Counseling and Guidance, North Tehran Azad University, Tehran, Iran
3- PhD Student in Counseling, Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz, Ahvaz, Iran

Abstract: (686 Views)

Abstract
Background & Objectives: Currently, the most important concern of the educational system is to create a suitable platform for effective and sustainable learning through education. Education helps students expand and improve their lifestyles. One of the important factors that can promote a positive educational environment among students is academic progress, which can be influenced by many factors, such as students' tendencies, standards, and persistence in school activities. On the other hand, academic progress is undoubtedly one of the most important psychological concepts in education, which plays a unique role in the energy, direction, stability, and activation of students, and it will be essential to investigate the effective and related factors. In the past decades, teachers and researchers in education and training have tried to identify the background factors that cause the success and failure of learners and stated that success cannot be attributed to one factor. Still, many factors are involved; among these factors are academic motivation and academic meaning. Therefore, the present study was conducted to investigate the effectiveness of teaching mindfulness–based techniques on academic motivation and meaning in students with poor academic progress.
Methods: The present study was quasi–experimental and employed a pretest–posttest design with a control group. The statistical population of the current study included all students in the 11^th grade of the senior high schools in Tehran City, Iran, in the academic year of 2020–2021. The statistical sample comprised 40 students with low academic achievement randomly assigned to the experimental (20 people) and control (20 people) groups. A sample size of at least 15 people is recommended for experimental and causal–comparative research. The inclusion criteria were as follows: not using psychology and psychiatric services simultaneous with this study intervention, lacking psychiatric disorders or using psychiatric drugs, and not being under group consultation during the study period. The exclusion criteria were as follows: dissatisfaction with the study procedure, absence of more than two sessions from the educational program, and failure to do the educational assignments.
They received the academic motivation questionnaire (Ali and McInerney, 2006) and the meaning of education questionnaire (Henderson–King and Smith, 2006) to collect data. The experimental group participants received eight mindfulness techniques sessions (Kabatzin, 2003). The obtained data were analyzed by multivariate analysis of covariance using SPSS–22. The significance level of the tests was considered 0.05.
Results: The participants of this research were 40 students with poor academic progress. The results of covariance analysis showed that, after removing the pretest effect, mindfulness–based techniques effectively increased students' academic motivation and meaning (p<0.001). In other words, according to the eta square, the average increase of each variable of academic motivation and academic meaning was 48% and 19%, respectively, affected by the intervention with the training of mindfulness–based techniques.
Conclusion: The results showed that mindfulness–based techniques were effective in academic motivation and academic meaning in students with poor academic progress. Increasing concentration while studying leads to increasing self–awareness in students, improving the quality of studying and learning, which increases academic motivation. The Mindfulness method, due to its hidden mechanisms, such as acceptance, increasing awareness, desensitization, being present at the moment, and observation without judgment and confrontation, is effective in expanding the meaning of education. On the other hand, the effectiveness of treatment remains for a long time.

Keywords: Mindfulness, Academic motivation, Academic meaning, Academic progress

Full-Text [PDF 359 kb] (233 Downloads)

Type of Study: Original Research Article | Subject: Counseling

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