Short-term effectiveness of a brief psychological intervention on university students’ stress and well-being during prolonged exam preparation: results of a randomized controlled trial

Figures & data

Table 1. Summary of baseline characteristics using independent-samples t-tests with respective means and standard deviations for both groups.

	IG	CG
Variable	M (SD)	M (SD)	t (df)	p
Sociodemographic
Age	23.4 (1.29)	24.55 (2.73)	2.12 (41)	.04
Semester	8.69 (1.41)	9.80 (3.35)	1.65 (40)	.11
Outcome
Stress	71.55 (15.68)	75.23 (13.95)	0.93 (54)	.36
Well-being	2.92 (0.55)	3.04 (0.58)	0.79 (54)	.43
Control
Neuroticism	3.62 (0.86)	3.43 (0.97)	0.74 (54)	.47
Time to examination	2.00 (0.63)	2.03 (0.72)	0.19 (54)	.86
Attempt^a	1.23 (0.43)	1.07 (0.25)	1.71 (39)	.10

Note. IG = intervention group, CG = control group, M = mean, SD = standard deviation.

^a Divided by initial vs. improved attempt.

Figure 1. (a) Short-term effectiveness of the brief psychological intervention for study-related stress and well-being. Lines show students’ stress and well-being levels for baseline and post-measurement with respect to the intervention group (IG; n = 26) and control group (CG; n = 29). The time interval between t0 and t1 is one week. (b) Short-term effectiveness stability of the brief psychological intervention for study-related stress and well-being. Lines show students’ stress and well-being levels for post and follow-up measurement with respect to the intervention group (IG; n = 22) and control group (CG; n = 19). The time interval between t1 and t2 is one week. CG students received the intervention between t1 and t2.

Data availability statement

The dataset of this study can be obtained from the corresponding author upon request.