Reality Counseling Intervention Using Expressive Writing Techniques for Self-Adjustment of Grade VII Students

Abstract

This research investigates the impact of reality counseling integrated with the expressive writing technique as a strategy to enhance the adaptation abilities of seventh-grade students at SMP Muhammadiyah 6 Samarinda during the 2024/2025 academic year. The study adopts an experimental approach, utilizing a pre-experimental one-group pretest-posttest design within a quantitative framework. Participants were selected through purposive sampling, a non-probability sampling method, and included six students. The intervention was implemented across six sessions. The results reveal a notable improvement in students' adaptation skills following the application of reality counseling with expressive writing. The pretest scores averaged 86.7%, while the posttest results demonstrated an increase to 123%. Statistical analysis using a paired sample t-test indicated a significance value of 0.000 < 0.05, confirming a substantial difference in adaptation levels before and after the intervention. Consequently, this study concludes that reality counseling combined with the expressive writing technique effectively enhances the adaptation skills of seventh-grade students at SMP Muhammadiyah 6 Samarinda