Abstract
Background
Experiential learning activities have demonstrated superior learning outcomes for students in addiction psychology courses. In this project, we asked students to select a behavior they would like to change and to actively work to reduce it throughout the semester. Students were asked to submit an assignment detailing their experiences with the behavior change process.
Purpose
We aimed to examine if this experiential learning activity would provide students with an opportunity to recognize course concepts reflected in their lives and behaviors.
Method
Twenty-two students agreed to have their assignments analyzed and to complete a post-experience survey. Survey responses were examined using descriptive analyses, and student assignments underwent thematic analysis.
Findings
Descriptive analyses of survey responses from students appeared favorable toward the assignment. Thematic analysis of the assignments revealed three major themes: recognizing course concepts, managing and contending, barriers and conflicts.
Implications
Findings from the current project highlight the value of experiential learning in situations where student understanding is best achieved through active, personal engagement with the topic, rather than through lecture-based instructional methods.
Significance of Research Statement
The findings of this project underscore the critical role of experiential learning in enhancing student comprehension. Results indicate that when learners engage actively and personally with the subject matter, they achieve a deep understanding of the course content.
Easier Said Than Done: the Behavior Change Experience
For many post-secondary students, learning new material through lecture-based formats alone can pose a significant struggle (Deslauriers et al., 2019). In social science courses, where concepts are often more abstract and direct practical experience is less common, instructors may struggle to implement learning techniques that are both engaging and closely connected to the course material. Even though research has found that students in humanities and social science courses achieve more following active rather than passive learning instruction (Kozanitis & Nenciovici, 2023), some concepts are hard to experience in a class setting and therefore challenging for students to fully understand.
This issue can be demonstrated in the case of addiction psychology courses where it is challenging for students to directly interact with the material being taught. As such, students hoping to learn more about addiction treatment and recovery may struggle with key course concepts, such as why addiction is considered a disorder, why individuals with addiction struggle to “just stop,” and why addiction recovery is often fraught with setbacks and lapses. In this case, where course material cannot be directly experienced or manipulated by learners, the use of high-quality experiential learning activities in undergraduate courses may be beneficial. This provides students with safe and effective ways to engage with course concepts while also offering educational experiences shown to enhance their social and cognitive development (Burch et al., 2019).
The current paper discusses the use of an experiential learning exercise in an addiction psychology course. However, it is important to note that experiential learning is not specific to addiction or psychology courses. Experiential learning can be implemented in a variety of courses where prior student experience cannot be guaranteed, as well as in cases where students might benefit from immersion into a course topic or concept (Baldwin, 2008; Burch et al., 2019; Gronski & Pigg, 2000; Mason & Arshed, 2013).
Experiential Learning & Behavior Change Assignments
In 1978, Keeton and Tate described experiential learning as an approach whereby learners can actively engage with the subject matter, rather than simply studying it in abstract or theoretical ways such as reading about it or writing about it. Experiential learning theory was developed by David Kolb and arose from the works of Jean Piaget, John Dewey, and Kurt Lewin (Kolb, 1984). In Kolb's Experiential Learning Cycle (Kolb, 1984), learners may begin by engaging and immersing themselves in a concrete experience (Phase 1). They then reflect and review their experiences from different perspectives (Phase 2), think abstractly about the meaning of their experience (Phase 3), and conclude by engaging and experimenting with what they have learned (Phase 4). Although the learning process is presented as a cycle, there are multiple valid entry points. Encouraging students to engage with the cycle from a position that aligns with their prior knowledge or learning preferences helps to avoid privileging concrete experience as the sole or primary starting point (Kolb & Kolb, 2017). Across four decades of empirical study, researchers have consistently found experiential learning activities to be significantly associated with better learning outcomes for students when compared to control groups who do not engage in experiential learning (for meta-analysis, see Burch et al., 2019).
Furthermore, the literature shows that experiential learning is not specific to one educational domain. Experiential learning activities have been successfully used in subjects such as engineering, business, occupational therapy, and more notably, addiction psychology (Abdulwahed & Nagy, 2009; Knecht-Sabres, 2013; Leal-Rodríguez & Albort-Morant, 2019). In addiction psychology and related fields such as counselling and social work, behavior change assignments have long served as experiential learning activities, helping students actively apply theory to real-life behavioral change. In 2007, Caldwell and colleagues had students in a graduate social work course on substance abuse abstain from their mood-altering behaviors for one week and complete a written summary of their personal experiences. Through this activity, students were better able to put themselves in the position of someone struggling with a substance use disorder and thus helped to facilitate change in students’ attitudes (Caldwell, 2007). Similarly, in a study by Yates et al. (2017), 17 students in a master's addictions counselling program were asked to select a substance or behavior that they were willing to abstain from for 4 weeks. Students were asked to journal and summarize their experiences in a written assignment. Analysis of the assignments found that students reported increased empathy as well as a better understanding of the concrete experiences that individuals with addictive disorders go through. More recently, Dice et al. (2019) sought to introduce an abstinence-based assignment to undergraduate students pursuing baccalaureate degrees in human services. The 12 participating students were instructed to record their experiences while engaging in a 30-day period of abstinence from something they enjoy. The authors found that the activity and written assignment fostered deeper learning and greater empathy in the students.
The Current Project
For the current project, the authors implemented a behavior change assignment in an undergraduate course, collected written reports of students’ experiences, and examined the results using qualitative methods (e.g., thematic analysis). The current paper provides details surrounding the assignment protocol, the method of data analysis, and a comprehensive discussion of the themes identified, including examples from students’ assignments. Furthermore, this study extends previous research by implementing this assignment in a sample of undergraduate students, extending the experience timeline, allowing students to select their behavior change approach (e.g., complete abstinence, reduced behavior, titration, etc.), and administering a brief post-experience survey. Our research questions and hypotheses for the study were as follows:
I. Will students demonstrate an in-depth understanding of course material after completion of the experiential learning activity (behavior change assignment)? We anticipated that students would demonstrate an understanding of course material (e.g., referencing course concepts, noting theories of behavior change, observing similarities in their feelings, etc.) in their written assignments following completion of the task.
II. Will survey responses (quantitative data) and written assignments (qualitative data) be in alignment and in favor of the assignment and its utility in teaching students about behavior changes? We anticipated that both student survey data and written assignments would generally reflect positive perceptions of the experience, with students indicating that it was valuable within the context of the course.
Method
Participants
Students enrolled in a fourth-year addiction psychology course at a Toronto-based University were invited to participate. This course was developed by authors M.T.K. and R.M.O. and was taught by authors M.T.K. and V.M.
Eligibility criteria for the current study included having previously submitted a behavior change assignment and providing consent for both parts of the study (e.g., assignment analysis and survey response). A total of 22 students (86% female) provided full consent and were included in our analyses.
Design
This study employed a single-group post-activity design to examine student reflections on a 12-week experiential activity. All students enrolled in the course completed the same assignment, and the responses of those who provided consent were assessed at the end of the academic semester. No control group or comparison group was used given that all students enrolled in the course completed the same assignment as part of the curriculum.
This design allowed for an exploratory investigation into participants’ experiences and responses following the experiential activity period. At the end of the course, students submitted a final assignment reflecting on their experience. These texts served as the primary data source for thematic analysis. Through this design, we aimed to gather an in-depth understanding of students’ subjective experiences rather than to test causal hypotheses. This study assessed one group at a single time point; therefore, causal inferences are limited.
Materials
Behavior Change Assignment
On the first day of class, students were informed that throughout the semester they would complete a behavior change activity and afterward would submit an assignment detailing their experiences. For this activity, students were asked to identify one behavior from their life they would like to refrain from or substantially reduce throughout the semester. Students were asked to keep a journal of their participation as they progressed through the semester and engaged in the experience. On the final day of class, students submitted a 4-page assignment describing their entire behavior change experience. This included details such as the behavior they selected, the methods they used to reduce it, any setbacks and successes they encountered, and any other information they felt was important to include.
Post-Experience Survey
The post-experience survey was created by the authors for this study and aimed to capture students’ perspectives of the experience and the assignment. Only students who consented to participate in the research study were given the survey, not all those enrolled in the course. The survey was distributed via a Qualtrics (https://www.qualtrics.com) link and included four questions, each with five possible responses that students could select from.
Procedures
This study was approved by the research ethics board at York University (2022-128) and the University of New Brunswick (2023-055). After students had received final grades for the course, all students who had been enrolled in the course in the previous academic year were invited via their institutional email to participate in the current study. Students were asked to provide written consent to have their previously submitted behavior change assignments analyzed and to complete a post-experience survey. No compensation was provided.
After reviewing which students had provided consent, the research team downloaded the previously submitted assignments from the course submission portal, anonymized them, and uploaded them to the LiGRE (https://ligresoftware.com) platform for thematic analysis. For the post-experience survey, anonymous responses from students who had completed all four questions were exported from Qualtrics in CSV format.
Analytic Strategy
Thematic analysis of participant assignments was conducted using the LiGRE (https://ligresoftware.com) platform. The authors followed the thematic analysis process outlined by Braun and Clarke (2019) and incorporated various methods of triangulation in their analysis procedure (Carter et al., 2014). The process began with two independent reviewers (V.M. & A.S.) reading each assignment and familiarizing themselves with the content and the format. The reviewers then read through each assignment individually and began blind coding the data. After the first coding iteration, the two reviewers met to discuss and clarify the codes that they had developed. This process occurred twice, consisting of two coding iterations and consensus meetings, followed by a final meeting to compile a comprehensive set of themes and subthemes that accurately captured all codes and reflected the assignments. We used thematic analysis to systematically identify, analyze, and interpret themes within students’ written reports, addressing our first research question.
For the post-experience survey responses, students who consent and completed all four questions had their anonymous responses exported from Qualtrics in CSV format. The authors then calculated descriptive statistics such as the frequency, mean, standard deviation, and range for each of the four questions. These quantitative metrics were incorporated to complement the primary qualitative analysis and to provide additional context for interpreting students’ experiences. This helped ensure that our interpretations were grounded in students’ self-reported feedback and that these data informed our second research question.
Results
Research Question 1: Will Students’ Written Assignments About Their Experience Demonstrate Their in-Depth Understanding of Course Material?
Thematic analysis of the assignments yielded three main themes: (1) recognizing course concepts; (2) managing and contending; and (3) barriers and conflicts, as shown in Table 1. Each theme is described in more detail below, along with relevant subthemes and examples from student assignments. Additionally, the types of behaviors chosen by students and their corresponding frequencies are shown in Table 2.
Themes and Subthemes From the Assignments.
Selected Behaviors and Frequencies.
Recognizing Course Concepts
The primary purpose of the assignment was to examine how well students were able to recognize the concepts from class reflected in their own behavior change process. As students engaged in the activity, our goal was that students would recognize how their behavior change process resembled that of someone going through the addiction reduction or recovery process—albeit on a much smaller scale, and directly observe course material in a real-world experience of their own.
The first subtheme, Theoretical Models from Class, was identified in 18 assignments and clearly demonstrated the assignment helped students apply material learned from class to their lives and experiences. For example, in class we discussed the role of positive and negative reinforcement and how these models can reinforce the use of addictive substances. The behavior change assignment then helped students to see where these processes may have been occurring in their own lives and what positive and negative reinforcement might feel like. As Student H wrote, “Negative reinforcement was at work here … having this feeling of calmness after drinking coffee only increased my consumption.”
The second subtheme, Harm Reduction vs. Abstinence, was identified in 16 assignments. Throughout the semester both methods of recovery were discussed in class, and students often expressed a preference for one over the other. The behavior change assignment, however, allowed students to test these two methods of reduction and experience them firsthand. In many assignments, students began by stating that they were going to stop drinking coffee (for example) using an abstinence approach. Later in the experience, however, some students found that reducing from four cups of coffee a day to zero was quite difficult and unenjoyable, and that they may have fared better by decreasing their consumption gradually (i.e., harm reduction). As Student P, who chose to decrease their social media use wrote: “I had to adjust my approach after a while because I realized a total abstinence goal was not realistic because a part of me still wanted to check social media … It made much more sense to reduce the harm of social media consumption by limiting myself to a certain amount of time per day so that I did not experience the negative consequences.”
The third subtheme, Easier Said Than Done, was identified in 14 assignments. This subtheme showcased how students assumed the experience would be easy but found it more difficult than they expected. As Student N said, “Upon completing this experiment, I realized how challenging altering habits are, especially when you’ve been doing them for a long time.” The experience also allowed students to witness firsthand why many people with addiction struggle to change their behavior and maintain sobriety. Student K reflected, “All in all, this exercise has opened my eyes to how easy it is to engage in unhealthy cyclical behavior, how emotionally difficult it is to continue to try and change my behavior in the face of repeated failures, and how tempting it is to give up on behavioral change.”
Managing and Contending
The second major theme focused on how students managed and integrated their newly changed behavior into their day-to-day lives. Throughout the 12 weeks, many students developed tactics or strategies to help maintain their behavior change.
The most endorsed subtheme, substitution, was identified in 17 assignments. As discussed in class, addiction substitution is a phenomenon in the addiction recovery literature, whereby individuals who reduce one addictive behavior subsequently increase engagement in another addictive/harmful behavior (Kim et al., 2021). As Student V who was working to reduce their time on social media wrote, “The weeks that I improved in my screen time were not based on my willpower alone … I turned off my notifications … and distracted myself with other forms of [media].” As well, in some assignments, students displayed adaptive forms of substitution, whereby they replaced their previous behavior with a more healthful or adaptive behavior. For example, Student S wrote, “Whenever I felt like I wanted coffee I would drink water instead, or drink another beverage instead such as flavored milk, or juice.”
Stimulus Control emerged as the second subtheme and was identified in 12 assignments. For individuals struggling with addiction, the places and people that accompany the substance use process can often provoke the desire to use the substance or engage in the behavior (e.g., environmental cues). Throughout the behavior change assignment, many students found it easier to maintain their behavioral change by implementing minor changes to their daily schedules or environments to avoid temptations and reminders. As Student N explained, “To reduce my nail-biting, I decided to keep my nails painted.” In another example, Student D chose to change their walking route to class to try to avoid coffee shops, thus not feeling tempted to purchase and consume coffee: “I reduced my consumption … by walking to class and to the library, avoiding [coffee shops] as much as I could.”
Barriers and Conflicts
The third major theme that emerged focused on how students handled barriers, conflicts, difficulties, and setbacks that arose. The most common subtheme, lapses, was identified in 15 assignments and encompassed temporary failures to maintain the chosen behavior change. This concept was particularly important for students to learn and experience firsthand, given how often it occurs in the reduction or recovery process. Many students assumed that they would be able to easily implement a behavior change in their lives but quickly noticed themselves experiencing small failures and lapses in their behavior due to a variety of reasons. As Student T wrote, “In the seventh week … I ended up failing and drinking 7 coffees [in a] day. This week I was really stressed at work and used caffeine as an escape.” Similarly, Student M wrote, “This experiment taught me that even a minor slip can very quickly turn into a full-blown lapse—for example, opening up Instagram with the intention of checking one message, and then scrolling through posts and reels for hours.” The behavior change assignment allowed students to recognize that minor failures are a normal part of the behavior change process and that even individuals with the best intentions inadvertently experience setbacks, sometimes outside of their control.
The second subtheme, external factors, was identified in 13 assignments. This subtheme encompassed factors in students’ lives that made adhering to the behavior change more difficult. In many cases, these factors were things that students were unable to easily change or remove from their lives, such as school-related stress, diagnoses, and workplace environments. As Student K wrote, “I have ADHD which makes it very difficult to suppress my urges [to play video games] once my ADHD medication wears off at night.” Likewise, another student (Student C) wrote, “I’ve noticed that the more coffee I drink, the longer I can go without sleeping … I began to consume more coffee as a result of my demanding schedule.”
Research Question 2: Alignment of Students’ Survey Responses and Written Assignments
Results from the descriptive analyses of the student survey responses have been provided in Table 3. Overall, student responses appear to be in alignment with the written assignment and largely favorable to the assignment. Most students felt that the assignment helped them develop critical thinking skills regarding addiction, that the assignment changed their perspective of addiction, and that the assignment furthered their knowledge of addictive behaviors, all of which were in line with the intended learning outcomes.
Student Survey Responses.
Discussion
This study examined if an experiential learning activity was an effective way for students from a fourth-year undergraduate course to apply knowledge of addiction. Our findings suggest that students were successfully able to recognize and apply course material, as well as immerse themselves in an experience otherwise not possible through classroom lecture-based learning. Through our analysis, we found that the assignment furthered students’ understanding of core course concepts, the coping and management mechanisms that can make a behavior change process easier, and the barriers and conflicts that can make a behavior change more difficult.
The findings of the current study are in line with previously published work showing the benefits of experiential learning, both in general education (Burch et al., 2019) and in addiction courses specifically (Baldwin, 2008; Caldwell, 2007; Yates et al., 2017). Moreover, this study is novel and extends previous work, specifically in the addiction education field, through three important avenues. First, it is one of few studies to be implemented in a sample of undergraduate students (Dice et al., 2019). Behavior change experiential learning practices are commonly implemented at the graduate level (Baldwin, 2008; Caldwell, 2007; Giordano et al., 2015; Spaid & Squires, 2006), where class sizes tend to be smaller, particularly in addiction-related fields such as psychology (Golding et al., 2020). By examining these practices at the undergraduate level, the study has the potential to reach a larger and broader group of students.
Second, the current study featured one of the longest behavior change experience timelines in the addiction education literature to date. While most previous work has examined behavior changes that last anywhere from 7 days to 6 weeks (Baldwin, 2008; Caldwell, 2007; Dice et al., 2019; Yates et al., 2017), in the current study we sought to implement the behavior change assignment for a period of 12 weeks. Not only is this timeframe more ecologically valid, but it also allows students a longer period to immerse themselves in the experience and encounter setbacks and subsequent successes.
Finally, the current study is the first that we know of to provide students with the flexibility to select their own behavioral change approach. While much of the previous work on this topic in addiction courses focuses on abstinence-based behavior change approaches (Baldwin, 2008; Caldwell, 2007; Dice et al., 2019; Yates et al., 2017), we believed allowing students to select and alternate between strategies and approaches would be the most ecologically valid, better aligned with course concepts, and more supportive of students’ autonomy in learning. In the current assignment, students were free to change their behavior via abstinence approaches, titrating down to a desired behavior amount, reducing their behavior, or any combination of these methods. While abstinence methods have historically been the prevailing treatment option for addictive disorders (Eddie et al., 2022), harm-reduction approaches have long been recognized by many researchers and clinicians for their significant benefit and utility (Falk et al., 2019). As such, we sought to include this aspect in the assignment as well.
Implications for Education
Findings from this work suggest several important implications for the design and delivery of addiction-related education. First, implementing behavior change experiential learning at the undergraduate level may reach a larger and more diverse student population than similar activities offered in graduate programs, where enrolment in addiction-related fields may be limited (Golding et al., 2020). Second, extending the experiential learning period to 12 weeks offers a more ecologically valid and immersive experience, allowing students to navigate challenges and successes over time. Finally, providing students with the opportunity to choose between abstinence, harm-reduction, or hybrid approaches to behavior change aligns with contemporary models of addiction treatment, promotes self-directed learning, and reflects the diversity of strategies used in real-world practice (Paquette et al., 2022).
Limitations of the Present Study
In addition to the strengths and educational implications this study provides, it also has limitations. To begin, a limitation of the current project includes possible dishonesty from students (e.g., only engaged in the project for a week or two rather than the entire semester, untruthful reports, non-compliance with the chosen behavior reduction, etc.). Given that students were not monitored weekly, and that instructors were unable to check on each student outside of class time, we cannot say for certain that some students may not have fabricated or embellished some of the experiences in their reports. This limitation, however, is not exclusive to this assignment, can be present throughout academia, and is often difficult to avert. An additional limitation is that we did not collect or compare student outcome data in the form of grades on this assignment or overall grades in the course. We acknowledge that student outcome data is often useful when seeking to implement novel assignments in a course, and we feel that this would be an excellent avenue of future work. Based on our results, it appears that this assignment increased students’ understanding of course concepts, however, it may be useful to compare student performance from experiential learning to other course assignments to see if the knowledge gained from this assignment translated to other assignments. Moving forward, we also encourage future researchers to continue investigating the optimal length of time for experiential learning activities with students. The current study examined a 12-week period; however, we suspect that additional time may make the experience more realistic.
Future Research
Future research should address potential concerns regarding student compliance and honesty in experiential learning activities, possibly through periodic check-ins or structured monitoring. Collecting and comparing student outcome data (e.g., assignment grades, overall course performance) may help determine whether the knowledge gained from experiential learning activities translates to improved academic achievement more broadly. We also encourage researchers to examine the optimal duration for experiential learning activities; while this study implemented a 12-week model, longer timelines may offer an even more authentic and impactful learning experience.
In conclusion, the findings of the current project highlight advantages of experiential learning activities, particularly for the student learning experience, and the benefits they can have when attempting to teach students about topics that may be difficult to learn via lectures or textbooks, such as addiction.
Footnotes
Ethical Considerations
This study received Institutional Review Board approval.
Consent to Participate
All participants included written consent to participate.
Funding
The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Data Availability
The data that support the findings of this study are not publicly available and will not be shared at this time.