Professional counselors’ preventive approach to students’ social anxiety through sociodrama-based group guidance
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.12928/jprotect.v4i1.2174Keywords:
Social anxiety, Group guidance, Sociodrama techniques, Social skillsAbstract
Social anxiety is a common problem among high school students and can hinder both social and academic development. Therefore, preventive measures are needed to stop social anxiety from escalating into a more severe condition. This study aims to test the effectiveness of group guidance services using sociodrama techniques as a preventive measure against the development of social anxiety among students at SMAN 5 Malang, a public Senior High School in Malang, Indonesia. This study employed a quantitative approach using a pre-experimental method with a one-group pretest-posttest design. The study sample consisted of eight students with moderate to high levels of social anxiety, selected using purposive sampling. Data were collected using a social anxiety scale that met validity and reliability criteria. Group guidance sessions using sociodrama techniques were conducted over four meetings, followed by a posttest to assess changes in the students’ social anxiety levels. Hypothesis testing was performed using the Wilcoxon Signed-Rank Test, with the results showing a significance value of 0.012 (< 0.05), indicating a significant difference between the pretest and posttest scores. These findings suggest that group guidance services using sociodrama techniques have the potential to support preventive measures by reducing students’ levels of social anxiety. Consequently, they can be utilized as a preventive strategy to stop social anxiety from developing into a more severe condition and to help students develop social skills and self-confidence in social situations.
References
Ahmed, M. K. (2025). Investigating coping strategies for anxiety and speech disorders in classroom presentations: A case study on Bangladeshi tertiary students. Acta Psychologica, 261, 105832. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actpsy.2025.105832
Akbari, A., Torabizadeh, C., Nick, N., Setoodeh, G., & Ghaemmaghami, P. (2025). The effects of training female students in emotion regulation techniques on their social problem-solving skills and social anxiety: A randomized controlled trial. Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health, 19(1), 3. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13034-025-00860-1
Alikhani, H., Samani, S., Bardideh, M. R., & Mozafari, M. (2022). The effectiveness of sociodrama intervention to reduce the social skills in children with social anxiety disorder. Clinical Psychology: Research and Practice Innovations, 13(4), 53–64. https://doi.org/10.22075/jcp.2021.23124.2129
Alikhani, H., Samani, S., Bardideh, M. R., & Mozaffari, M. (2022). Intervention based sociodrama: Evaluating the effectiveness on the anxiety in children with social anxiety disorder. Iranian Journal of Psychiatric Nursing, 10(3), 88–103. https://doi.org/10.22034/IJPN.10.3.88
Altınay, D. (2024). Psychodrama, sociodrama, sociometry and spontaneity theater in education and psychodrama in actor’s education. In S. Giacomucci, H. Junqueira Fleury, & D. Altınay (Eds.), Psychodrama in Counselling, Coaching and Education (Vol. 5, pp. 5–39). Springer Nature Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-97-8377-9_2
Alves, F., Figueiredo, D. V., & Vagos, P. (2022). The prevalence of adolescent social fears and social anxiety disorder in school contexts. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(19), 12458. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph191912458
Aulia, F., & Putri, K. Y. S. (2024). Use of Instagram as a medium for adolescence self-identity construction. International Journal of Media and Communication Research, 5(1), 33–43. https://doi.org/10.25299/ijmcr.v5i1.15007
Corey, G. (2024). Theory and practice of counseling and psychotherapy. Cengage learning.
Dong, Z., Chiu, M. M., Zhou, S., & Zhang, Z. (2025). Problem solving and emotion coping styles for social anxiety: A meta-analysis of Chinese mainland students. Child Psychiatry & Human Development, 56(2), 328–345. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-023-01561-6
Gazelle, H. (2022). Two models of the development of social withdrawal and social anxiety in childhood and adolescence: Progress and blind spots. Children, 9(5), 734. https://doi.org/10.3390/children9050734
Israelashvili, J., Dijk, C., & Fischer, A. H. (2024). Social anxiety is associated with personal distress and disrupted recognition of negative emotions. Heliyon, 10(3), e24587. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e24587
Jang, S. J., Han, J.-S., Bang, M. H., & Ahn, J.-W. (2022). Effects of a sociodrama-based communication enhancement program on mothers of children with neurodevelopmental disorders: A pilot study. Asian Nursing Research, 16(2), 114–123. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anr.2022.03.005
Kharismaylinda, J., & Harahap, A. C. P. (2023). Effectiveness of group guidance services using socio-drama techniques to reduce acts of discrimination in high school students. Scaffolding: Jurnal Pendidikan Islam dan Multikulturalisme, 5(2), 173–190. https://doi.org/10.37680/scaffolding.v5i2.2773
Klaufus, L., Verlinden, E., Van Der Wal, M., Cuijpers, P., Chinapaw, M., & Smit, F. (2022). Adolescent anxiety and depression: Burden of disease study in 53,894 secondary school pupils in the Netherlands. BMC Psychiatry, 22(1), 225. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-022-03868-5
Kyambade, M., Namuddu, R., Mugambwa, J., & Namatovu, A. (2024). I can’t express myself at work: Encouraging socially responsible leadership and psychological safety in higher education setting. Cogent Education, 11(1), 2373560. https://doi.org/10.1080/2331186X.2024.2373560
Lin, T., Kraatz, E., Ha, S. Y., Hsieh, M., Glassman, M., Nagpal, M., Sallade, R., & Shin, S. (2022). Shaping classroom social experiences through collaborative small‐group discussions. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 92(1), 131–154. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjep.12442
Liu, X.-Q., Guo, Y.-X., & Xu, Y. (2023). Risk factors and digital interventions for anxiety disorders in college students: Stakeholder perspectives. World Journal of Clinical Cases, 11(7), 1442–1457. https://doi.org/10.12998/wjcc.v11.i7.1442
Lyngdoh, T., El‐Manstrly, D., & Jeesha, K. (2023). Social isolation and social anxiety as drivers of generation Z’s willingness to share personal information on social media. Psychology & Marketing, 40(1), 5–26. https://doi.org/10.1002/mar.21744
Mou, Q., Zhuang, J., Wu, Q., Zhong, Y., Dai, Q., Cao, X., Gao, Y., Lu, Q., & Zhao, M. (2024). Social media addiction and academic engagement as serial mediators between social anxiety and academic performance among college students. BMC Psychology, 12(1), 190. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-024-01635-7
O’Flanagan, S. E., & Y Jester, M. (2025). Experiential learning amid disequilibrium: Attuning to student emotions. Management Learning, 56(5), 863–889. https://doi.org/10.1177/13505076241306061
Pahlevi, R., Hartono, H., & Arum, L. N. (2025). Effect of group guidance method using sociodrama technique to improve students’ self-confidence. Indonesian Journal of Guidance and Counseling Studies, 2(2), 66–76. https://doi.org/10.64420/ijgcs.v2i2.320
Pratiwi, D., Qureshi, M., Mohamed, Y., & Ardchir, M. (2022). Overview of role-playing techniques in group guidance services to improve students’ interpersonal intelligence. International Journal of Research in Counseling, 1(1), 46–51. https://doi.org/10.55849/ijrc.v1i1.8
Rajpar, T. A., Abbasi, A. M., & Laghari, A. (2026). Understanding the triggers of English-speaking anxiety among university students: A cross-cultural mixed-methods study. Journal of Research in Education and Pedagogy, 3(1), 56–68. https://doi.org/10.70232/jrep.v3i1.129
Rozen, N., & Aderka, I. M. (2023). Emotions in social anxiety disorder: A review. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 95, 102696. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.janxdis.2023.102696
Salari, N., Heidarian, P., Hassanabadi, M., Babajani, F., Abdoli, N., Aminian, M., & Mohammadi, M. (2024). Global prevalence of social anxiety disorder in children, adolescents and youth: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Prevention, 45(5), 795–813. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10935-024-00789-9
Saputri, M. G., Herminastiti, R., & Malik, H. A. (2024). The influence of sociodrama on early children’s social skills. Jurnal Cerlang PG PAUD, 1(1), 20–26. https://doi.org/10.37640/jcpaud.v1i1.1926
Wahdi, A. E., Wilopo, S. A., & Erskine, H. E. (2023). 122. The prevalence of adolescent mental disorders in Indonesia: An analysis of Indonesia–National Mental Health Survey (I-NAMHS). Journal of Adolescent Health, 72(3), S70. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2022.11.143
Wati, I. W. I. I., Wahyuni, K. T., & Mei, B. S. (2025). Collaborative learning as a pedagogical strategy to foster interpersonal communication skills among senior high school students. Journal of Education Technology and Inovation, 8(1), 65–74. https://doi.org/10.31537/jeti.v8i1.2358
Wu, W., Huang, L., & Yang, F. (2024). Social anxiety and problematic social media use: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Addictive Behaviors, 153, 107995. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.addbeh.2024.107995
Yuliza, V., & Daulay, N. (2023). Implementation of guidance and counseling in preventing bullying: The role of teachers in junior high schools. Tarbawi: Jurnal Keilmuan Manajemen Pendidikan, 9(01), 51–58. https://doi.org/10.32678/tarbawi.v9i01.8176
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Nazalia Febrina Fasya Abidin & Khoirul Barriyah

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish in journal of Professional Teacher Education agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY-SA 4.0) that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgment of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgment of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

