The Effectiveness of Self-Compassion Training on Resilience and Academic Stress in Students with Low Academic Performance

 Resilience is the ability of people to effectively adapt to the environment exposed to risk factors. A large share of learners' failures is rooted in stress. The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of self-compassion training on resilience and academic stress of students with low academic performance.

 The research method was a semi-experimental pre-test and post-test design with a control group. Sixty 11th-grade males from low-performing high schools in the city of Tabriz were selected by cluster random sampling and randomly assigned to equal the intervention and control groups. The intervention group received a training course on self-compassion in 10 sessions and the control group continued with their regular classroom programs. Data were collected using Connor & Davidson resilience and Kohn & Frazer academic stress questionnaires and were analyzed using covariance analysis test and SPSS Statistics for Windows, version 22.0 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, Ill., USA).

 The mean (SD) of resilience scores in the experimental group increased from 52.5 (22.5) before the intervention to 69.6(16.8) after the intervention (P=0.017). Academic stress scores in the experimental group decreased from 79.7 (33.6) before the intervention to 54.1(18.0) after the intervention (P<0.001). In the control group, there was no difference between the pre-test and post-test scores.

 The study showed that teaching self-compassion is an effective and significant intervention to increase resilience and reduce academic stress of school students with low academic performance.