Does Psychoeducation Help People to Respond to Goal Lapses With Self-Compassion?

Biskas, Marios; Sirois, Fuschia M.; Webb, Thomas L.

Abstract

Despite research indicating that responding with self-compassion to lapses in goal pursuit can help people to achieve their goals, there is evidence that people often struggle to respond with self-compassion when it would benefit them. One reason is that people may not be familiar with the concept of self-compassion or may think negatively of self-compassion. We propose that providing information about self-compassion and its benefits can help people to respond with self-compassion to lapses in goal pursuit. To test this, we randomly assigned participants to a self-compassion psychoeducation condition or control condition and then tested whether they responded with self-compassion to a recalled lapse. The results suggested that, although psychoeducation seemed to influence participants’ beliefs about self-compassion, there was no evidence that psychoeducation increased self-compassionate responding. This finding highlights the need to develop additional strategies to help people to translate knowledge about self-compassion into self-compassionate responses to lapses and difficulties.

Citation

Biskas, M., Sirois, F. M., & Webb, T. L. (2023). Does Psychoeducation Help People to Respond to Goal Lapses With Self-Compassion?. Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment, 41(8), 839-851. https://doi.org/10.1177/07342829231189010

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jun 17, 2023
• Online Publication Date: Jul 17, 2023
• Publication Date: 2023-12
• Deposit Date: Feb 13, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: Feb 13, 2024
• Journal: Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment
• Print ISSN: 0734-2829
• Electronic ISSN: 1557-5144
• Publisher: SAGE Publications
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 41
• Issue: 8
• Pages: 839-851
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/07342829231189010
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1932633