The Influence of a Multimodal Cognitive Behavioural Intervention on the Stress Mindset, Psychological Wellbeing, and Performance of Students Aged 16–18 Facing Exams

Exam stress is one of the most influential factors for adolescent students' mental wellbeing (Brown et al. 2022). The typical response is to try and avoid, reduce or eliminate the stress, but it is possible to change the way individuals appraise stress. The present study aimed to investigate the effect of a 6-week multi-modal intervention on markers of performance and mental wellbeing in students that were soon to be completing their secondary and tertiary examination period (16-18 years). The intervention employed a multi-modal approach of stress psychoeducation, self-compassion and reappraisal of irrational beliefs. Content included helpful thinking techniques, badness scale and imagery to promote a more beneficial psychological response to exams. Eighty-six young persons (49 males and 37 females) aged between 16 and 18 years old (M = 16.92, SD = 0.99) participated, 55 participants in the experimental group and 31 participants in the control group. All participants completed measures of stress-mindset, perceived performance, irrational beliefs, anxiety, depression and proactive coping at baseline and post-intervention. The separate ANCOVA's revealed there was greater significant levels of stress-mindset, perceived performance and proactive coping in the experimental compared to the control at post. Furthermore, there was significantly lower levels of depression in the experimental compared to the control from at post. No significant changes were found in irrational beliefs and anxiety at post. Overall, the multi-modal approach demonstrates to be efficacious in aiding a young person's mental wellbeing and performance.