COUNS-EDU The International Journal of Counseling and Education

Vol. 7, No. 4, 2022 |

p-ISSN: 2548-348X- e-ISSN: 2548-3498
http://journal.konselor.or.id/index.php/counsedu
DOI: 10.23916/0020220740540

Received on 16/10/2022; Revised on 20/11/2022; Accepted on 25/11/2022; Published on 25/11/2022

Peer Counseling as A Coping Strategy for Academic Stress and

Burnout in Final-Year Students
Kushendar Kushendar*, Aprezo Pardodi Maba
Institut Agama Islam Ma'arif NU (IAIMNU) Metro Lampung
*) Corresponding author, e-mail: [email protected]

Abstract
Academic stress, which impact on students, was caused by academic demand and
competition. The article reveals and analysis counseling technique (peer counseling) in
order to effort decrease academic stress and burnout for final-year students. The Research
used Pretest-Posttest Control Group Design. Each group consist of 20 participants, with
purposive sampling technique. Each participant was placed by random assignment. The
MANOVA test results showed that peer counseling reduction academic stress (F (2.24) =
101.769; ηp2 = 0.85; p <0.01) and burnout (F (2.24) = 21.769; ηp2 = 0.55; p < 0.01).
Moreover, the Wilcoxon test result indicated experimental group (peer counseling) decrease
academic stress (Z = -2.82; p <0.05) and burnout (Z = -2.82: p <0.05). The control group
showed increasing burnout (Z = -2.17; p <0.05) but academic stress showed there was not
enhancement (Z = -0.34: p> 0.05). Peer counseling (based on stress management) as a
strategy for overcoming academic stress and burnout among Metro City final-year students.

Keywords: Peer Counseling, Final year Student, Academic Stress, Burnout

How to Cite: Kushendar, K., & Maba, A. P. (2023). Peer Counseling as A Coping Strategy for
Academic Stress and Burnout in Final-Year Students. COUNS-EDU: The International Journal of
Counseling and Education, 7(4). https://doi.org/10.23916/0020220740540

This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use,
distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. ©2022 by author.

Introduction
The duty and responsibility of the student to complete the term paper or dissertation completion
report. This is what accustoms the student to adapt to assignments when later entering the working world.
The role of students as individuals who continue to learn and increase their potential through learning
methods and individual and social skills (Salmon & Young, 2011). These duties and responsibilities are
also a reasonable hope for students, parents, and the surrounding environment. This becomes a complex
problem where students face lecture material that is increasingly difficult to adapt to the social climate to
fulfill expectations for academic achievement (Fawns et al., 2019).
If these duties and responsibilities are not carried out properly, then they contrary it will become a
problem in the future. One indication of these problems is experiencing burnout (Morse et al., 2012) and
academic stress (Reddy et al., 2018). Burnout is defined as psychological or psychological fatigue due to
the demands of work or study and not being optimistic. It even tends to be pessimistic about the tasks that
are owned because of the powerlessness of the potential (Dodek et al., 2016). In Education, it is called
academic burnout (Backović et al., 2012). Tendency to skip classes is reluctant to do assignments, doesn't
care about exam results, and doesn't care that he will be dismissed (Strayer, 2012).
Studies say that the number of students being expelled from their campuses is proven by (Astuti &
Nio, 2022) research. At the beginning of 2022, it was recorded that 140 students were entering the grace
period of lectures and were threatened with dropping out of the undergraduate program at the University
of Padang, indicating they were experiencing academic stress. Ministry of Research and Technology of the

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Republic of Indonesia in the 2018 Higher Education Statistics noted the percentage of drop-out students in
2018 was 3%. Of the approximately 6.95 million students recognized by the ministry, 239,498 students
have dropped out (Wahyu Wulandari et al., 2022). This problem possibly causes campus academics to
understand the importance of maintaining mental health by creating a campus environment that not only
gives tasks and responsibilities but recognizes the importance of maintaining mental health.
The issue of dropping out for students and these problems indicate students experiencing academic
burnout and stress. Six factors influence whether or not burnout appears, namely workload, control,
Relationship among student rewards among school engagement, academic self-efficacy, and academic
burnout, community, value, and fairness (Zhou et al., 2022). In the context of lectures, the workload can
be in the form of doing many lecture assignments, such as compiling papers, understanding journals,
making presentations, and preparing for exams in a short time. Control, such as difficulty making
decisions about lecture assignments due to the influence of more dominant friends, lecturers, or campus
regulations. For rewards, for example, students need to get appreciation from lecturers, classmates, or
parents for their academic achievements. For example, students need better relations with classmates or
lecturers, making them uncomfortable carrying out their lectures. Value can be in the form of a
discrepancy between the values students adhere to and the demands of lectures. Fairness can be seen when
students feel mistreated by campus parties (Arlinkasari & Akmal, 2017).
Education is an essential component for developing the potential and self-esteem of schoolchildren.
Members of the school's educational system can meet some of the student's needs and determine their
future quality of life. However, the educational process in schools is often stressful for students due to their
inability to adapt (Rathakrishnan et al., 2021). In addition to student stress in the school environment,
mental and physical disorders are on the rise (Lichtmann & Bodenmann, 2017). A stress that students
often face is academic stress (Bedewy & Gabriel, 2015). School stress is a source of stress that occurs in the
school environment (Schulte-Körne, 2016). Several factors burden students, such as too high academic
requirements, bad exam results, task accumulation, and social environment. Academic stress falls under
the category of distress (Zuhdi et al., 2019).
Academic stress is when students cannot cope with the demands of school and perceive it as a
distraction. Academic stress is caused by academic stressors (Science & Behavior, 2021). Academic
stressors, d. H. Stress caused by the learning process., 2022). High school performance expectations from
parents, teachers, and classmates create stress. These expectations often contradict students' abilities and
create psychological pressures that undermine academic performance. Furthermore, according to (Gabryś-
Barker & Gałajda, 2016), students appear to fear their teachers because complex subjects can cause
academic stress. Students who are more resilient to stress achieve better learning outcomes. The pressures
and demands that arise from schoolwork are known as academic stress. Academic stress includes
the knowledge that needs to be acquired and the student's perception that there is insufficient time to
develop it.
Such situations often make young people an exclusive group. This phenomenon occurs due to the
development of personal allegorical traits triggered by cognitive development during formal manipulation.
Closeness, openness, and a sense of shared destiny with other adolescents can be opportunities for efforts
to advance youth development. On the other hand, some of the psychological characteristics of
adolescents (emotional, insecure) pose challenges to the effectiveness of peer counseling services. Based on
the issues, phenomena, and above research findings in this field, the researcher proposed a peer counseling
service model to reduce academic stress and academic burnout for final year students in Metro He
Lampung, Indonesia. took the initiative to create

Methods
The experimental design of this study used a pre-test-post-test control group (before and after
treatment) design that included two groups, an experimental group and a control group. The experimental
group used peer counseling techniques as an intervention. The control group is in the form of a placebo
group.
Research topics were selected using a targeted sampling technique by selecting her 20 students from
Maalif University, Lampung. In addition, a random assignment of the 10 people into experimental and

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control groups is performed so that the groups are equal. The tool used in this study adjusted for two
measures of academic stress and burnout, thus requiring a back-translation process. The academic stress
scale uses the Manual Student Stress Inventory (SSI) developed by Mohammad Aziz Shah (2016). This
tool consists of 40 high-confidence questions. So, the Cronbach alpha is 0.85.
In the meantime, the saturation scale of the Maslach Burnout Instrument Inventory-Student Survey
(MBI-SS) was adopted. Maslach Burnout by Schauferi, Maslach, Reiter, and Jackson (2002) derived from
Maslach's burnout theory was developed from his inventory (MBI). The scale consists of 15 items with 7
scale levels. So, it was very strong, based on previous research results of his Cronbach's alpha of 0.93 for
the reliability of the MBISS instrument. Data analysis techniques in this study used the MANOVA test
and his Wilcoxon test using the IMB SPSS 24 macroprocess software. The MANOVA test was used to
determine the effect and degree of contribution of peer counseling on academic stress and burnout. In
contrast, the Wilcoxon test is used to determine differences between experimental and control groups.

Results and Discussion

Results
Wilcoxon test scores are used to study the relationship between academic stress and burnout. The
results of the MANOVA test are derived from a between-subjects efficacy analysis test and used to
determine how peer counseling contributes to reducing academic stress and burnout. Results of the
MANOVA test showed that peer counseling reduced academic F (2.24) = 101.769; ηp2 = 0.85; p <0.01)
and burnout (F (2.24) = 21.769; ηp2 = 0.55; p <0.01). Furthermore, the Wilcoxon test results showed that
in the experimental group, there was an enhancement in academic stress (Z = -2.82; p <0.05) and burnout
(Z = -2.82: p <0.05). The control group showed an enhancement in burnout (Z = -2.17; p <0.05), but
academic stress showed there was no enhancement (Z = -0.34: p> 0.05). The results describe the effect of
peer counseling on increasing pretest and posttest scores and reducing academic stress and burnout.

Discussion
Based on these findings, stress is a condition caused by a mismatch between desirable situations
and an individual's biological, psychological, or social systems (Goswami et al., 2020) (Robins &
Kashima, 2008) also define stress as the perception of a gap between environmental demands and an
individual's ability to meet them. Stress is an individual's response to situations and events that cause stress
(the stressor) that threatens and impairs the individual's ability to cope (coping) (Saleh Baqutayan, 2015).
Based on some of the opinions above, stress is the pressure that arises due to a mismatch between
undesired circumstances and expectations when there is a gap between environmental demands and an
individual's ability to meet them, it can be concluded that it is considered potentially harmful. Stress is
considered threatening, destructive, and uncontrollable. In other words, it is beyond the capacity of an
individual to cope.
In line with the above research, the stress in school and educational settings is commonly referred to
as academic stress (Hakim et al., 2022). Academic stress is caused by academic stressors (CE et al., 2011).
Academic stressors are stress experienced by students due to problems related to the learning process or
learning activities, such as test anxiety or stress management. Consistent with the opinion above (Anju et
al., 2021), they found that academic stress is a condition or situation in which there is a mismatch between

Table 1. The Results of Multivariate Analysis Test of Variance (Manova) and Wilcoxon
Pretes Postes
Variable Kelompok Z P
M SD M SD
Academic Stress Experiment 15.80 1.033 20.00 0.843 -2.820 <0.05
control 15.40 0.843 15.50 0.527 -0.333 <0.05
F (2.24) 101.769*
ῃ2P 0.850
Burnout Experiment 16.90 2.132 20.80 1.549 -2.818 <0.05
Control 16.20 1.814 17.10 1.449 -2.165 >0.05
F(2.24) 21.769
ῃ2P 0.549

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environmental demands and the considerable resources of students. As such, they are increasingly
burdened with various restrictions and demands, and academic stress stems from the pressure to
demonstrate performance and excellence in an increasingly competitive academic environment. is also
known (Chumacero et al., 2016). And the demands are becoming more and more burdensome. In
addition, academic stress is related to educational factors such as (1) attending class, (2) completing many
assignments, (3) achieving high test scores, and (4) student reactions to various requirements. And arise
from the learning process.) making important decisions, (5) test anxiety, and (6) the need to manage study
time.
Students who cannot handle lecture problems efficiently will make them vulnerable to burnout.
Burnout in academics or academic burnout is defined as feeling tired because of the demands of study
(Salahshour & Esmaeili, 2021), having a cynical attitude towards lecture assignments, and feeling
incompetent as a. States that burnout in individuals is related to the decline of interpersonal relationships
and the development of negative behavior that can damage the individual concerned. Students who
experience burnout will miss classes (absence), do not do well on assignments, and get bad test results,
which in turn has the potential to be expelled from college (De Vibe et al., 2013).
Academic problems that are not immediately resolved can potentially cause academic burnout in
students. Six factors influence whether or not burnout appears, namely workload, control, the relationship
between School Engagement, Academic Self-Efficacy and Academic Burnout in Students reward,
community, value dan fairness (Zhou et al., 2022). In the context of lectures, the workload can be in the
form of doing many lecture assignments, such as compiling papers, understanding journals, making
presentations, and preparing for exams in a short time.
Difficulty making decisions regarding his lecture assignments due to the influence of more
dominant friends, lecturers, or campus regulations. For rewards, for example, students do not get
appreciation from lecturers, classmates, or parents for their academic achievements. For example, students
do not have good relations with classmates or lecturers, making them uncomfortable carrying out their
lectures. Value can be in the form of a discrepancy between the values that students adhere to and the
demands of lectures. Fairness can be seen when students feel mistreated by campus parties.
Peer counseling strongly places communication skills to facilitate self-exploration and decision-
making. Peer “counselors” are not professional counselors. Peer “counselors” are students who assist
other students under the guidance of an expert counselor (Malchodi et al., 2003). In peer counseling, the
role and presence of an expert counselor are still needed. In essence, peer counseling is counseling through
peers because most adolescents (students and students) often discuss their problems with their peers
compared to their parents, counselors, or teachers at school. Even for issues that are considered very
serious, they talk about them with their peers (friends). Even if there are teenagers who finally tell their
parents, counselors, or teachers about the serious problems they are experiencing, it is usually because they
are forced to (discussions and efforts to solve problems with peers experience dead ends). This happens
because adolescents have very strong interests and commitments, and bonds with peers (Chapman et al.,
2010).
The term ″peer counselor″ sometimes raises concerns for some people because they are worried
about the connotation of a professional counselor (van der Meulen et al., 2021). That's why some people
call ″peer counselor″ ″facilitator″ or ″junior counselor″ (Malchodi et al., 2003). Regardless of the various
terms used, what matters is how students relate to one another and in what ways these relationships can be
used to enhance their development. Peer counseling is important because most adolescents (students and
students) often talk about their problems with their peers compared to their parents, counselors, or teachers
at school. Even for issues that are considered very serious, they talk about them with their peers (friends).
Even if there are teenagers who finally tell their parents, counselors, or teachers about the serious problems
they are experiencing, it is usually because they are forced to (discussions and efforts to solve problems
with peers experience dead ends).
This happens because adolescents have powerful interests and commitments, and bonds with peers.
Teenagers feel that adults cannot understand them and believe that only their peers can understand each
other. Teenagers feel that adults cannot understand them and believe that only their peers can understand
each other. Such circumstances often make adolescents an exclusive group.

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Indonesian Counselor Association (IKI) | DOI: 10.23916/0020220740540
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Vol. 7, No. 4, 2022
Available online: http://journal.konselor.or.id/index.php/counsedu Kushendar & Maba

Conclusion
Based on the obtained research results, it can be concluded that peer counseling effectively reduces
learning stress and burnout. Peer counseling still requires the role and presence of expert advisors. Peer
counseling is essentially peer counseling, and most young people (students and pupils) often discuss their
problems with peers as opposed to parents, counselors, or teachers at school. Based on the results of this
study, it is suggested that counselors prioritize mental health (school stress and burnout). For further
research, we recommend choosing more significant research topics, and more diverse and can use different
research designs to find and enrich research on peer counseling, academic stress, and burnout.

Acknowledgment
The researcher would like to thank the UMALA Islamic Education University Guidance and
Counseling Department for giving permission to conduct the research, several Counseling Guidance
students Batch 2020, especially members of the counseling group who have helped carry out this
experimental research.

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