THE EFFECT OF APPLYING THE AFFIRMATION RELAXATION METHOD ON STUDENTS' ACADEMIC STRESS

Abstract

The study aims to determine the effect of the application of the affirmation relaxation method on students' academic stress. The method used in the study is a quantitative pre-experimental design with a pretest/posttest one group design model. By using existing stress measuring instruments, it is then modified according to the research locus. SMA Daarul Amanah is an Islamic-based school in Majalengka, West Java. Students who study there learn based on the Islamic religion, so that not only general academic learning but also basic Islamic education learning. So a student is susceptible to academic stress because it is caused by demands in the journey of education. Thus, researchers are interested in conducting research at SMA Daarul Amanah using the affirmation relaxation method to deal with students' academic stress. The study population consisted of all students of SMA Daarul Amanah totaling 53 people and taken as a sample was class XI with 12 students. The study is based on a combined theory, namely Relaxation Response Theory, a development theory that involves belief factors and Self-Affirmation Theory, a theory that focuses on a person's behavior and thoughts and academic stress theory, namely about reactions to pressure caused by education. Based on the data obtained from the pretest and posttest results, data analysis was carried out using the t-test or paired sample t-test showing an average value before treatment of 117.75, while the average stress level after treatment was given showed an average value of 63.58. There was a decrease in the level of academic stress between before and after treatment of 54.167 with a percentage of 54%. So the results of the paired sample t-test obtained a sig. (2 tailed) value of 0.001 <0.05, then H1 is accepted, which means that there is an effect of the application of affirmation relaxation techniques on students' academic stress. So the Affirmation Relaxation Method has a function to reduce academic stress experienced by students and the affirmation relaxation method can be used as an alternative solution to similar problems that occur in education.