The Design and Evaluation of an Online Classroom-Based Emotion Regulation Intervention for College Students

Abstract

This study evaluated the effectiveness of a brief, web-based intervention on online college students’ self-regulation (e.g., task value and effort regulation), perceived control, achievement emotions, and perceived stress using a quasi-experimental design. Consistent with research supporting the Control-Value Theory of Achievement Emotions (Pekrun, 2006), the intervention was designed to increase students’ perceptions of academic control and task value, and was embedded directly into an academic environment. Students in two online psychology courses (n = 65) completed short measures of outcome variables weekly for 12 weeks, as well as four weeks of intervention content in weeks 5-8. Students (n = 256) in a third class completed weekly measures only and served as a comparison group. Results supported hypotheses of salutary intervention effects on perceived value and negative emotion (with small to medium within-group effects), but not perceived control, effort regulation, positive emotion, or perceived stress. Additionally, students’ control and effort regulation scores showed small, positive correlations with course performance for intervention participants. These findings are discussed in the context of existing literature. Implications for teaching and counseling practice, as well as limitations and future directions, are also addressed.