Case report for an intervention for scientific pressure by brief strategic withdrawal

With the increasing number of postgraduates being admitted, the scientific and academic pressure faced by this group is becoming more obvious, causing more concerns among people in tertiary education. This study is an exploratory, context-rich single-case report. This research aims at supplement the research deficiency in releasing pressure related to academic pressure. Based on counter-intuitive adopted in strategic family therapy, we designed a five-day strategic withdrawal, exploring the effects it caused on mid-term postgraduates in terms of releasing pressure.

A single-case pretest-posttest design was adopted. A 23-year-old unmarried female master's student in social science at the middle stage of her research project. She passed standardized screening procedures and satisfied all pre-set inclusion criteria. She was instructed to suspend stress-triggering behaviors such as thesis writing and literature searching. Quantitative data and qualitative materials were collected using the Research Anxiety Scale, the Challenge-Hindrance Research Stressors Scale, and diaries at three time points: before withdrawal (T1), after withdrawal (T2), and two weeks after withdrawal (T3). The withdrawal effects and their sustainability were comprehensively evaluated.

Brief strategic withdrawal intervention is correlated with decreased research anxiety levels supported by quantitative longitudinal data; it yields alleviating effects on hindrance research stress, yet produces no improvement in challenge research stress, and all these claims are backed by corresponding evidenced data.

According to the research, brief strategic withdrawal is an accessible intervention that exerts beneficial effects on mitigating research anxiety and stress among postgraduates,. creating positive reference for developing strategic therapy. This study is limited by its single-participant sample and short follow-up duration, so caution should be exercised when generalizing the findings. Large-sample randomized controlled trials are needed in future research to clarify the universal effectiveness of this intervention.