SOCRATES-C: Measuring Readiness for Change in Academic Coaching

Abstract

Academic coaching is a remedial method to assist undergraduate students experiencing academic difficulties due to counterproductive behavioral patterns related to their academic skills and habits. Developing academic skills and changing academic habits requires a student’s willingness to address engrained behaviors that have developed over many years. In other treatment settings that target problematic patterns of behavior (i.e., substance abuse treatment), it has been found that an individual’s readiness for change should inform treatment interventions to maximize outcomes. The SOCRATES instrument was developed to address this issue in substance abuse populations. The present study provides validity evidence for the SOCRATES-C, which was adapted to measure readiness for change in academic coaching students. Similar to patterns described in substance abuse literature, academic coaching students who self-refer for academic coaching endorse more awareness/recognition of their problem behaviors and claim to be taking less steps to change their behaviors than students who do not self-refer for academic coaching. Although the present study did not use results from the SOCRATES-C to inform academic coaching intervention, it provides promising findings that the instrument could be used for this purpose in future research and practice to maximize the benefits of academic coaching. Findings from the current study have the potential to greatly improve academic performance and graduation rates for undergraduate students.