Effects of online learning engagement techniques for a college stress reduction module
Creators: name: Colombo, MaryClare
Publisher: name: Open Science Framework
Year: 2022
Subjects: subject: Clinical Psychology
subject: Counseling Psychology
subject: Personality and Social Contexts
subject: Cognitive Psychology
subject: Social and Behavioral Sciences
subject: Psychology
subject: FOS: Psychology

description: As online education becomes more commonplace, engagement strategies can likely enhance learning outcomes as they do in traditional educational settings. Approaches such as retrieval practice and feedback can enhance content-based learning (Putnam, Nestojko, &amp; Roediger, 2017). Retrieval practice, otherwise known as the testing effect, is repeated quizzing in order to strengthen semantic network connections and enhance understanding of material, resulting in stronger long-term learning (Kornell, 2014; Roediger &amp; Karpicke, 2006). Feedback magnifies the effects of retrieval practice, especially when the feedback explains why the answer is correct (Butler, Godbole, &amp; Marsh, 2013; Kornell, Klein, &amp; Rawson, 2015). Additionally, strategies such as visual aids enhance understanding because they are processed very quickly—faster than text (Thorpe, Fize, &amp; Marlot, 1996). Though visuals, retrieval practice and feedback have been extensively studied, less is known about the combined effects of the different engagement strategies when used online and outside classroom settings. Online therapy provides an opportunity to assess engagement strategies. A rise in technology ownership has allowed therapy to expand beyond traditional face-to-face modalities and become more feasible and accessible online, ranging from therapist–client conversation to independent modules. While many studies have demonstrated online therapy’s efficacy in general, features of online delivery (such as engagement strategies) impacting client outcomes (such as comprehension) have not been studied. College students are a logical population for investigating online strategies, as they may be particularly comfortable with online delivery and may have less access to traditional and extended weekly therapy. As the transition to college is typically stressful for students, many colleges provide stress management interventions. While there is an indication these programs can be successfully administered online (e.g., Titov et al., 2008), specific features of online delivery have not been studied. The current study fills a gap by examining the impact of common traditional learning strategies in an online program. The present study examined whether engagement strategies enhanced learning of the material of a 1-session online stress intervention. One hundred students were randomly assigned to one of three groups: the experimental group, the visual control group, and the dialogue control group. Participants completed the Big Five Personality Inventory and Cognitive Flexibility Inventory (a measure of ability to produce alternate explanations) pre-intervention and a final test and demographics questionnaire post-intervention, as well as the Inventory of Cognitive Distortions (a measure of maladaptive thoughts) and the Perceived Control over Stressful Events scale both before and after the intervention. The stress intervention described a counseling session for a fictional college student who experiences stress and goes to counseling. Participants read snippets of dialogue between the student and the counselor that emphasized fundamental aspects of cognitive-behavioral interventions for stress. The text describing the intervention was identical for all 3 conditions, but other features varied. The experimental group included several engagement strategies: quiz-style questions and feedback interspersed throughout the “session” that tested comprehension of prior therapy content, as well as visual aids to supplement key ideas. The visual control group also had visual aids but no engagement strategies. The dialogue control group had neither engagement strategies nor visual aids. Instead of engagement strategies, participants in both control groups (visual control and dialogue control) read content summaries interspersed throughout. The results of this pilot study indicate that the intervention impacted predictions of future stress. Those in the experimental group expected the fictional character to be more successful in controlling future stress than the dialogue control group, with the visual control group’s perceived control falling between. A 3(group: experimental, visual, dialogue) x 2(PCSE time: baseline &amp; post-intervention) mixed factorial analysis of variance on the perceived control over stressful events (PCSE) scale found a main effect of group where the experimental group had higher scores of PCSE than the dialogue group, F(2,96) = 5.91, p = .004, η²p = 0.16, and a main effect of increases in perceived control overall from baseline to post-intervention, F(1,96) = 17.67, p &lt; .001, η²p = 0.08. Contrasts between groups on pre-post score changes found that the experimental and visual control groups experienced significant increases in perceived control while the dialogue control group did not. In terms of the impact of personality variables, several traits were related to cognitive distortions. Several Big Five traits predicted endorsement of cognitive distortions, such that individuals with greater flexibility and desire to interact with others but lower negative emotion reported fewer maladaptive thoughts. Specifically, low neuroticism was the strongest predictor of fewer cognitive distortions, b = -0.51, CI95[-0.76, -0.26], β = -0.38, p (less than) .001. Extroversion also significantly predicted fewer cognitive distortions (b = -0.29, CI95[-0.53, -0.05], β = -0.23, p = 0.02), as did low conscientiousness (b = -0.55, CI95[-0.98, -0.13], β = -0.23, p = 0.012) and low openness to experience (b = 0.32, CI95[0.1, 0.5], β = 0.25, p = 0.005), R² = .294. In a subset (N = 60) of participants who scored higher on neuroticism, results echoed the full dataset with larger effect sizes, where these higher neuroticism participants predicted higher perceived control for the fictional character. There was a main effect of intervention group, where specifically the experimental group predicted higher perceived control than the dialogue control, F(2,57) = 3.96, p = .025, η²p = 0.29, and a main effect of time, where participants predicted improved perceived control from pre-intervention to post-intervention, F(1,57) = 23.1, p (less than) .001, η²p = 0.12. Specifically, experimental and visual control groups experienced significant increases in perceived control while the dialogue control group did not. Overall, the intervention resulted in improvements in perceived control over stress for the fictional character, and the experimental group tended to predict higher perceived control than the dialogue control group. Personality factors predicted cognitive distortions and specifically, in a high neuroticism subset, participants predicted a greater amount of perceived control. Results are promising for both the utility of engagement strategies in online treatment and of a brief, single session online stress management intervention. A follow up study in the spring will further explore a revised intervention in a high neuroticism subset.