Intervention for Nigerian preservice historians’ maladaptive academic perfectionism: Implications for history lecturers

BACKGROUND: Individuals enrolled in a university program that will lead to a degree in history are considered preservice historians in the context of this study. Their goal is to become professional historians after graduating from the university. The purpose of this study was to determine whether cognitive behavioral coaching (CBC) had an effect on maladaptive academic perfectionism in Nigerian preservice historians. METHOD: The study included a randomized sample of 98 preservice historians from Nigerian public universities in the country's Southeast zone [49 preservice historians were assigned to the cognitive behavioral coaching group—CBC Group, while 49 preservice historians were assigned to the waitlist control group—Waitlist control Group]. RESULTS: The finding indicate that preservice historians’ maladaptive academic perfectionism decreased significantly following cognitive behavioral coaching. There was also a significant interaction effect of time and group on the reduction of preservice historians’ maladaptive academic perfectionism. CONCLUSION: This study suggests that cognitive behavioral coaching is an effective intervention for preservice historians who struggle with maladaptive academic perfectionism. The study's implications for history lecturers were discussed. Future study could investigate how maladaptive academic perfectionism affects postgraduate history students and how CBC can help them.