Introduction: Self-awareness is a crucial aspect of personality development and a key concept in psychology. It refers to the ability to understand oneself, including one's thoughts, feelings and behavior at a given time. Being self-aware means being able to recognize and understand one's own needs, desires, limits and values, as well as reflecting on how we relate to others and the world around us. Study design: This research project presents a randomized controlled trial to evaluate the impact of a self-coaching method on self-awareness. The main objective is to test whether this approach can increase participants' self-awareness. Methods: The self-coaching method will be implemented by means of a structured diary that aims to guide participants to achieve a greater understanding of themselves and their abilities. Participants in the study were randomly assigned to two groups: an experimental group to which the self-coaching method was delivered and a control group to which links to four self-awareness videos via the YouTube platform were sent. Results: The results suggest that the use of self-coaching methods can help to reduce stress and improve certain areas of psychological well-being and self-awareness. In particular, a significant decrease was noted in the experimental group in emotional cost, i.e. the negative impact in terms of emotions that a self-awareness course can cause. Discussion: The pilot study explored the short-term effects of self-coaching on healthcare professionals. Results showed improvements in personal growth and self-acceptance, but limited impact on stress and overall well-being. Both diary writing and videos supported self-reflection, with no major differences between them. However, self-coaching alone appears less effective without guidance, suggesting the need for longer duration and professional support.
Lavigna et al. (Tue,) studied this question.