Overcoming Procrastination? A Meta-Analysis of Intervention Studies

We present a meta-analysis of 24 studies on procrastination interventions (total k = 44, N = 1173) in order to find out 1) whether people can reduce their level of procrastination, and 2) if so, which type of intervention leads to the strongest reduction. We compared four different types of interventions: Self-regulation, cognitive behavioral therapy, other therapeutic approaches, and interventions focusing on individuals’ strengths and resources. A large reduction in procrastination after the interventions was found, and the effects remained stable in follow-up assessments. The findings so far suggest that cognitive behavioral therapy reduced procrastination more strongly than the other types of interventions. Other moderator variables, such as the duration of the intervention, had no significant effects. We propose future research that may help to build stronger evidence for the effects of interventions, as well as some guidelines for interventions.