SPIRITUAL EMOTIONAL FREEDOM TECHNIQUE THERAPY ON ACADEMIC STRESS OF FEMALE ADOLESCENT IN ISLAMIC BOARDING SCHOOL

Abstract

Introduction: Academic stress refers to mental and emotional pressure experienced by a person related to various demands in the world of education, such as assignments, exams, deadlines, or even expectations from oneself or others. One of the treatments to relieve academic stress is Spiritual Emotional Freedom Technique (SEFT) therapy.  This study aimed to determine the effect of laughter therapy on the level of academic stress in adolescent girls aged 16–18 years at the Tuban Islamic Boarding School. Method: This study used a quantitative pre-experimental design with a one-group pretest-posttest method. The participants were 30 out of 50 adolescent girls aged 16–18 years at an Islamic Boarding School in Tuban, selected using purposive sampling. The independent variable was SEFT therapy, and the dependent variable was academic stress. Instruments used included observation sheets, the SEFT Procedure, and the ESSA questionnaire. Data were analyzed using the Wilcoxon test (α < 0.05) with SPSS version 23.   Results: The research results were analyzed using the Wilcoxon test with a significance level of α < 0.05, with Asymp. Sig. (2-tailed) value of 0.000. This indicates a significant reduction in academic stress levels (???? = 0.000 < 0.05), meaning that H1 is accepted. Therefore, Spiritual Emotional Freedom Technique (SEFT) therapy was proven to have an effect on reducing academic stress in adolescents aged 16–18 years.  Conclusion:  This study demonstrated that Spiritual Emotional Freedom Technique (SEFT) therapy effectively reduced academic stress levels in adolescent girls aged 16–18 years at the Tuban Islamic Boarding School. Future research is recommended to involve larger and more diverse populations to strengthen the generalizability of the findings. Additionally, further studies could compare SEFT therapy with other stress-reduction techniques to determine the most effective methods for reducing academic stress in different educational settings.