Abstract

Task completion is essential to everyday life, and even more so in academic and clinical settings. Many individuals, however, struggle to overcome motivational barriers despite intending to complete responsibilities. This study examines whether psychoeducation on implementation intentions can improve task completion among undergraduate students in a CBT workshop. Drawing on prior research conducted in relation to the intention-behavior gap, involving The Theory of Planned Behavior, Motivational Interviewing, and activation energy, this study explores the follow-through on assigned tasks due to concrete behavioral planning. Participants (N=52) will attend a three-day workshop introducing CBT principles with included homework exercises. Using a within-subjects design, homework completion rates will be calculated prior to and after psychoeducation in implementation intentions. Homework completion rates will be compared with a paired-samples t-test analysis. Effect sizes and confidence intervals will be reported with a significance level of alpha 0.05 (a=0.05). It is anticipated that the participants will have higher homework completion rates once introduced to implementation intentions when compared to their baseline rates. The results of this study will contribute to replicated findings in understanding the intention-behavior gap and improve adherence to assigned tasks. Keywords: implementation intentions, theory of planned behavior, activation energy, motivational interviewing, volitional strategies