Stress Coping Strategies in Thesis Preparation for Final-Year Students of the Guidance and Counseling Study Program

Abstract

This study aims to determine and identify stress coping strategies in writing a thesis in final year students of the Guidance and Counseling Study Program at Veteran Bangun Nusantara University. The condition of students in the millennial generation today is a challenge in completing their studies. The obstacles faced by students during the thesis writing process include various psychological disorders, including anxiety, stress, panic, fear, depression, confusion, and frustration. The most inhibiting thing in facing the final semester is overthinking, which triggers excessive stress. Stress is normal and is part of human life. However, too much stress can interfere with a person's personal function, because everyone's endurance is different. This type of research is qualitative descriptive method. The data collection techniques used are interviews and observations. The subjects in this study were final year BK students from the Class of 2018, 2019 and 2020. The results showed that final year students predominantly used emotion focused coping strategies with five forms of coping, namely distancing, accepting responsibility, positive reappraisal, self-control, and escape avoidance. Final year students of BK study program of Veteran Bangun Nusantara University face pressure in completing their thesis in ways that aim to manage emotions and feelings of stress, not directly solving the problem itself. The conclusion of this study is that stress coping strategies included in the Emotion Focused Coping category are used by students facing difficulties in completing their thesis in ways that aim to manage emotions and feelings of stress, not directly solving the problem itself.