A Digital Single-Session Intervention (Project Engage) to Address Fear of Negative Evaluation Among College Students:...

Area of Science:

• Educational Psychology
• Biology Education

Background:

• College science courses are shifting to active learning to improve student engagement and outcomes.
• Fear of Negative Evaluation (FNE) hinders student participation in active learning environments.
• Undergraduates often avoid discussions and instructor interactions due to FNE.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the acceptability of a novel digital intervention for managing FNE.
• To assess the feasibility of implementing this intervention in large, active learning college science courses.
• To bolster student confidence in participating in class discussions and activities.

Main Methods:

• Developed Project Engage, a digital, self-guided intervention with psychoeducation and personalized action planning.
• Conducted a 2-armed randomized controlled trial comparing Project Engage to an active control.
• Intervention targeted undergraduate science students (n=282) in upper-level physiology.

Main Results:

• Project Engage participants showed greater increases in confidence for small group and whole class discussions.
• No significant increase in confidence for one-on-one instructor interactions was observed.
• The intervention demonstrated good acceptability (1.22 rating) and a high completion rate (>97%).

Conclusions:

• Project Engage is an acceptable and feasible intervention for improving student confidence in active learning settings.
• This digital tool provides a foundation for a widely accessible resource to support student participation.
• Further research can build upon these findings to broadly implement FNE coping strategies.