Conférence DE Kristiina Räihä (Faculté de Médecine, Université d’Helsinki)

« Staying the Course: The Promise of Psychological Flexibility for Sustainable Studying at University »

Le mercredi 3 juin 2026 de 17h00 à 18h30 en visioconférence, avec le lien suivant : lien zoom

Résumé :
Mental health challenges among university students have increased over recent decades, while higher education and the labour market increasingly require socio-emotional skills, self-regulation, and continuous adaptation. This mismatch between rising adaptability demands alongside diminishing student well-being can erode students’ resources for effective studying, threaten academic performance, and compromise persistence in degree programs. Consequently, there is a growing need for study-integrated approaches that strengthen students’ study ability and support sustainable learning trajectories.

This presentation argues that fostering psychological flexibility offers a theoretically coherent and practically feasible response to these challenges. Grounded in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), psychological flexibility refers to the capacity to acknowledge and accept various internal experiences, stay in contact with the present moment, and engage in purposeful action guided by personal values. Unlike symptom-focused approaches, ACT targets transdiagnostic processes of behaviour change and personal development, making it particularly well-suited for educational contexts where students must function effectively under stress rather than eliminate distress.

Building on the ACT tradition and an emerging evidence base in higher education, I synthesise current findings on associations between psychological flexibility and key academic and well-being outcomes, including organised studying, study engagement, burnout, and overall mental well-being. I also review early intervention studies, with a particular focus on curriculum-embedded and study-integrated formats that can reach students in authentic learning environments. Although evidence for study-integrated ACT interventions is accumulating and promising, important gaps remain regarding mechanisms and sustained effects. These gaps and future research directions are discussed.

Articles en lien avec la conférence :

Räihä, K. (2025). Promoting university students’ study ability through psychological flexibility and organised studying: Effects of an acceptance and commitment therapy -based course intervention. [Doctoral Thesis, University of Helsinki]. University of Helsinki. http://hdl.handle.net/10138/596066

Räihä, K., Asikainen, H. & Katajavuori, N. (2024). Changes in university students’ behaviour and study burnout risk during ACT-based online course intervention: A mixed methods study. Journal of Contextual Behavioral Science, 34, 100845. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcbs.2024.100845

Page personnelle de Kristiina Räihä : lien