Agora: Red Deer Polytechnic Undergraduate Journal Volume
16:1 2025 Agora Conference Proceedings

Being kind to yourself: Investigating the
effects of a brief self-compassion
intervention on self-oriented
perfectionism in post-secondary
students
Hannah Antonishyn
Perfectionism
Scholars describe perfectionism as the tendency to have
exceptionally high standards and being overly critical
when these standards are not met (Hewitt & Flett,
1991). Perfectionism is especially common in post-secondary
students, and recent trends have demonstrated that these
rates are continuing to increase (Curran & Hill, 2019).
There are two types of perfectionism: adaptive perfectionism
involves setting high standards, but feeling content with the
efforts invested into achieving these standards, even if they are
not necessarily met (Alanna et al., 2022). In contrast,
maladaptive perfectionism involves setting high standards and
being overly critical when these standards are not obtained
(Alanna

et

al.,

2022).

Research

individuals

who

portray

maladaptive
13

has

shown

that

perfectionist behaviors often experience more negative mental
health outcomes such as increases in psychological distress
(Alanna et al., 2022; Koutra et al., 2023) and decreases in
academic self-efficacy (ASE) which describes one’s confidence
in their abilities to succeed in various academic tasks (Chemers
et al., 2001).
There are various types of maladaptive perfectionism,
but the form most people are familiar with is referred to as selforiented perfectionism (SOP), as categorized by Hewitt and Flett
(1991) in their Multidimensional Model of Perfectionism. SOP
describes those who place unrealistic standards on themselves
and are highly critical of their own performance when their
standards are not met. Individuals who exhibit more SOP often
struggle to be kind to themselves and experience more
psychological distress (Alanna et al., 2022; Biskas et al., 2022).
Self-Compassion
The concept of self-compassion is derived from the idea
of compassion, which entails approaching the suffering of others
in an accepting, non-judgemental way that allows the receiving
person’s suffering to be acknowledged and understood (Neff,
2003a). In relation to this, self-compassion can be described as
a process that involves approaching one’s own suffering with the
same understanding and kindness we would give to others.

14

Neff’s (2003a) model of self-compassion consists of three main
components. The first element involves self-kindness, which
emphasises the importance of being kind and understanding of
one’s hardships rather than being harsh and engaging in
unnecessary self-criticism. The second element is mindfulness,
which refers to being aware of one’s negative emotions that arise
from experiences of failure or hardship, but not over-identifying
with them. Lastly, common humanity consists of the idea that an
individual's hardships and struggles are part of the human
experience and should not be perceived as isolating. In relation
to students who possess high levels of perfectionism, practicing
self-compassion

has

shown

to

decrease

maladaptive

perfectionism (Bearden et al., 2024). In addition to this,
practicing self-compassion has shown to have significant effects
on increasing psychological well-being (Fong & Loi, 2016) and
ASE (Martin et al., 2019) in student populations.
Self-Compassion Interventions
Self-compassion intervention strategies, administered in
varying forms, have shown to elicit significant increases in selfcompassion in participants (Ko et al., 2018; Lui et al., 2023). Not
only do these interventions promote self-compassion, but they
have shown to have positive impacts on other aspects such as
perfectionism, ASE, and well-being in student populations

15

(Bearden et al., 2024; Dundas et al., 2017; Lui et al., 2023).
These interventions are typically eight weeks in length (Bearden
et al., 2024; Bluth & Eisenlohr-Moul, 2017), but significant
results have been found in interventions in as little as two weeks
(Dundas et al., 2017). Partaking in these interventions often
requires participants to complete, on average, one to two hours
of self-compassion per week (Bearden et al., 2024; Bluth &
Eisenlohr-Moul, 2017), and thus are fairly time intensive.
Considering post-secondary students are often under immense
levels of stress pertaining to academics, finances, and
interpersonal relationships (Pitt et al., 2017), engaging in these
time-intensive practices may not be feasible. Furthermore,
practicing self-compassion requires a level of consistency (Ward
& Wheaton, 2022), which also may not necessarily work for
busy students.
Present Study
The purpose of the current study was to determine
whether completing a five-minute self-guided self-compassion
audio practice multiple times a week would yield changes in
self-compassion, SOP, ASE, and well-being in post-secondary
students. It was hypothesized that the brief self-compassion
intervention would show decreases in SOP, and increases in selfcompassion, ASE, and well-being in participants.

16

Method
Participants
The participant sample consisted of undergraduate
students enrolled in a first year psychology course at Red Deer
Polytechnic. These students were assigned to the experimental
group (n = 33) or the control group (n = 22) based on the course
section in which they were enrolled. The final sample of students
(N = 55) were primarily female, Caucasian, and in their first year
of study, which was representative of the student population at
RDP. The mean age of participants in the experimental group
and the control group were 22.53 years and 24.33 years,
respectively.
Procedure
Participants

were

recruited

through

recruitment

materials that described the details of the current study, which
were sent to and distributed to instructors. The researchers also
made appearances in various classes to discuss the project to
potential participants. Those who were interested were
instructed to email the researchers. During the first week of the
study, participants were emailed an online pre-test survey that
was to be completed. Additionally, each week of the intervention
consisted of the experimental group completing a self-guided
audio self-compassion practice that was approximately five
17

minutes in length. With this, participants were asked to aim to
complete this practice five times a week. At the end of each
week, participants were asked to record how many times they
completed the practice. This process was repeated for a total of
five weeks. After the five-week period, a post-test survey was
administered to both conditions.
Measures
Four validated and reliable measures were used in this
study. The first scale was the Self-Compassion Scale (Neff,
2003b) which assessed levels of self-compassion in the form of
the three components of self-compassion: self-kindness,
mindfulness, and common humanity. Higher scores of this scale
indicated greater self-compassion. The second measure was the
Self-Oriented Perfectionism subscale, which was from the full
Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (Hewitt & Flett, 1991).
Higher scores of this scale indicated higher levels of SOP. The
third measure was the Academic Self-Efficacy Scale (Chemers
et al., 2001) which evaluated one’s experiences in various
academic tasks. Higher scores on this measure demonstrated
higher ASE. The fourth scale used was the Brief Inventory of
Thriving (Su et al., 2014) which measured individuals’
psychological well-being. Higher scores on this scale suggested
higher levels of thriving.

18

The self-guided audio self-compassion practices used in
this study originated from Dr. Kristen Neff’s self-compassion
website. Five of the available self-compassion practices were
chosen to be included in this study with each week of the
intervention utilizing a different practice. These practices were
slightly different in terms of the focus/topic, but were all focused
on fostering self-compassion. These practices ranged from four
to eight minutes in length. Additionally, the post-test survey for
the experimental group consisted of open-ended questions that
evaluated the experiences of participants with completing the
self-compassion practices. Demographic questions were also
included in the post-test surveys.
Results
Pre- and Post-Test Analyses
Participants

reported

completing,

on

average,

approximately three self-compassion practices a week, yielding
between 15-25 minutes of self-compassion completed each
week. Results from repeated-samples t-tests revealed that the
experimental group increased significantly in self-compassion,
ASE, and well-being, and decreased significantly in SOP at posttest compared to the pre-test. The control group demonstrated no
significant differences in self-compassion, ASE, or SOP at the

19

post-test compared to the pre-test. Interestingly, well-being
significantly increased in the control group at post-test.
MANOVA
The results of the MANOVA analysis indicated there was
a significant multivariate main effect of the intervention with
approximately 26% of the variance of the dependent variables
being attributed to the intervention. A follow-up discriminant
analysis revealed that participants who reported higher levels of
self-compassion, ASE, and well-being, and lower levels of SOP
were involved in the intervention. Likewise, participants who
reported lower levels of self-compassion, ASE, and well-being,
and higher levels of SOP were part of the control group.
Open-Ended Responses
Participant responses to the open-ended questions
demonstrated that participants overall enjoyed completing the
self-compassion practices. In terms of perceived benefits,
participants reported that benefits from completing the practices
involved noticing increases in self-awareness and self-reflection
(e.g., “I found that I became more in touch with my feelings, and
how to accept them more often”) and increases in selfcompassion (e.g., “It made me think about how we all go
through hard times and self-doubt, even when someone else’s
life seems to be perfect compared to ours”). Participants also
20

reported that the practices provided them with an opportunity to
decompress and relax (e.g., “It just gave me time to calm down,
especially if I’ve had a rough day, and it helped me to just take
a second to breathe”). With this, most participants reported a
high likelihood of practicing self-compassion in the future, but
perhaps using different methods of self-compassion (e.g., “I see
myself continuing to practice self-compassion in the future,
however I think I prefer to use another method other than the
guided audio”).
Participants did report some difficulties with completing
the practices, citing time management as a primary reason (e.g.,
“It felt like one more thing to do on busy days”). Another
difficulty reported involved feeling disengaged from the
practices, or struggling to connect with the practices (e.g.,
“Some of them didn’t feel overly relevant to me so I struggled
to connect”). Additionally, participants also reported difficulties
with being consistent with completing the practices (e.g., “I
found it hard to remember to do the practices, only remembering
when the end of the week email was sent out”).
Discussion
The findings of the current study align directly with the
proposed hypothesis, demonstrating that the brief selfcompassion intervention yielded significant differences in self-

21

compassion, SOP, ASE, and well-being. Considering the
relatively small sample size, these findings make an important
contribution to the current literature as it furthers the
understanding

of

the

utility

of

brief

self-compassion

interventions on post-secondary students.
Intervention Effects
At post-test, participants who completed the brief selfcompassion intervention demonstrated significant decreases in
SOP, and increases in self-compassion, ASE, and well-being
compared to those in the control group, which reflect similarities
in

other

research

findings

regarding

self-compassion

interventions, particularly of both formal (Bearden et al., 2024)
and brief (Lui et al., 2023) interventions. This highlights how
brief self-compassion interventions can yield similar results as
longer, formal self-compassion interventions. With this,
however, the findings of the current study differ from previous
self-compassion practices, specifically in terms of how much
self-compassion is practiced. For instance, other brief selfcompassion interventions involve completing between a total of
3-4.5 hours of self-compassion (Dundas et al., 2017; Lui et al.,
2023). The participants of the current study completed, on
average, between 1.25-2 hours of self-compassion in total during
the intervention. This reflects how practicing less self-

22

compassion can still yield significant changes in selfcompassion, as compared to other brief self-compassion
interventions.
The current study highlights how practicing selfcompassion can have significant effects on SOP, ASE, and wellbeing, but self-compassion has been found to be associated with
a number of other positive benefits. For example, selfcompassion has shown to increase self-esteem (Muris & Otgaar,
2023), emotional regulation (Paucsik et al., 2022), and
interpersonal relationship satisfaction (Lathren et al., 2021).
These findings suggest that the participants in this study who
practiced self-compassion may have also experienced enhanced
well-being in areas beyond what was measured in the present
study.
Although practicing self-compassion has shown to have
numerous benefits, engaging in formal self-compassion
practices, such as workshops or courses, may not be feasible for
busy post-secondary students (Pitt et al., 2017). With increasing
mental health issues amongst students (Linden et al., 2021),
institution mental health supports are struggling to meet the
mental health demands of students (Watkins et al., 2011),
making it challenging for students to access the services they
require. As the current findings reflect, practicing selfcompassion for a few minutes a day can have significant impacts

23

on well-being in students, among other benefits relating to SOP
and ASE. These findings suggest a brief self-compassion
intervention may be a useful tool that can help support students’
mental health while they wait to access formal mental health
services.
Open-Ended Responses
Participant responses regarding their experiences with
the self-compassion practices used in the current study were
primarily positive. Firstly, participants explained how they
derived various benefits from completing the practices that
enhanced their perceptions of themselves. More specifically, the
benefits derived from the practices highlighted increases in the
three elements of self-compassion: self-kindness, common
humanity, and mindfulness. Participants reported that expressing
kindness to oneself, recognizing they are not alone in their
feelings, and feeling more grounded led to increases in selfcompassion. Additionally, completing the self-compassion
practices gave participants an opportunity to take a break to
focus on themselves. Participants reported that taking a moment
to decompress allowed them to feel less stressed and more
relaxed, highlighting how the self-compassion practices aided in
enhancing mental health and well-being of those in the
experimental group. Furthermore, participants reported that by

24

engaging in these practices, they now feel more prepared to
approach their emotions in a more positive light, focusing on the
importance of being kinder to oneself when experiencing
hardship.
Participants did report experiencing some difficulties
when completing the self-compassion practices with a primary
barrier involving finding time to complete the practices.
Considering students are busy with numerous other things (Pitt
et al., 2017), this is to be expected. With this, however,
participants who completed a few practices a week still noticed
benefits from completing them. This suggests that completing a
small amount of self-compassion can still yield positive impacts
on the well-being of students.
Limitations and Future Directions
A main limitation within this study lies within the fact
that follow-up analyses were unable to be conducted to
determine the long-term effectiveness of the intervention due to
constricting project timelines. Future studies should implement
a longitudinal approach to address this limitation. With this,
however, it would be important to consider whether participants
continued to practice self-compassion after the intervention to
determine if the intervention alone was effective, or if
participants are required to continue practicing self-compassion

25

after the intervention. A second limitation involves using selfreport measures, which could have resulted in social-desirability
bias in participant responses. Additionally, considering the
participant sample was primarily female and Caucasian,
including a more diverse sample of participants would increase
the generalizability of results and would create a better
understanding of how a brief self-compassion intervention
impacts a broader demographic of individuals. Lastly, future
studies could implement the use of various types of selfcompassion practices (e.g., journaling, engaging in self-care) to
gauge whether any differences between the effectiveness of each
technique would arise, leading to the possibility that one
technique may be more effective in a brief self-compassion
intervention dynamic.
Conclusion
With increasing levels of perfectionism in postsecondary students (Curran & Hill, 2019), students are in need
of accessible ways to combat the effects associated with
perfectionism, specifically in terms of their academic success
and mental health. Recent studies highlight the importance of
self-compassion and how it can be used to enhance a multitude
of aspects relating to well-being (Bearden et al., 2024; Lathren
et al., 2021), especially in post-secondary students. The present

26

study sought to explore whether brief self-compassion
interventions may have comparable results to longer, more time
intensive efforts to increase self-compassion. Indeed, the present
study did demonstrate that engaging in a brief self-compassion
intervention can yield significant impacts on self-compassion,
ASE, SOP, and well-being in post-secondary students, which
align with findings from other self-compassion interventions
(Dundas et al., 2017; Lui et al., 2023). Overall, the findings of
this study contribute to the existing literature on the effects a
brief self-compassion intervention has on post-secondary
students, specifically in terms of its impacts on SOP, ASE, and
well-being.

27

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