Reference
Sampl, J., & Furtner, M. (2017). Mindfulness and self-leadership help to succeed in high stress achievement environments: A mindfulness-based self-leadership training (MBSLT). Presented at the 15th ISQOLS Annual Conference: Quality of Life - Towards a Better Society, Innsbruck, Austria.
Publication type
Presentation at Scholarly Conference
Abstract
The present randomized pilot intervention study examines the effects of a mindfulness-based self-leadership training (MBSLT) specifically developed for academic achievement situations. While mindfulness is mainly associated with stress resilience, selfleadership helps to develop several strategies in order to foster a goal attainment process. The study was applied to analyze its effects on mood and success in high stress achievement environments. The MBSLT was conducted as randomized controlled intervention study over 10 weeks in order to analyze the effects on perceived stress, test anxiety, academic self-efficacy and performance of students by comparing an intervention and control group (n=109). The findings showed significant effects on mindfulness and self-leadership, indicating the successful application of the training into the academic context. Results demonstrated significant effects on academic self-efficacy, perceived stress and test anxiety over time. Accordingly, the intervention group showed less negative effects after the intervention than the control group. Furthermore, students who received the training showed significant better grade point averages. The complex combination of mindfulness and self-leadership strategies provided a stress and test anxiety attenuating method to improve performance levels in demanding university tasks. Results indicated that the intervention group had a stress stabilization effect during naturally higher stress periods, which is important for students to perform well in exams. The effects demonstrated the potential of mindfulness combined with self-leadership to develop a healthy self-regulatory way to attain achievement-related goals. Further research needs to clarify the role of the MBSLT in its mindfulness maintaining and stress stabilizing function.
Persons
Organizational Units
- Institute for Entrepreneurship
- Chair of Entrepreneurship and Leadership