Solutions to Academic Stress among Final-Year Guidance and Counseling Students

Abstract

Completing an undergraduate thesis is a demanding academic stage that often triggers academic stress among final-year students, including those enrolled in Guidance and Counseling programs, despite their theoretical understanding of emotional regulation and coping strategies. This study aimed to explore the lived experiences of final-year Guidance and Counseling students and identify the strategies they employed to cope with academic stress during the thesis-writing process. A qualitative study with a phenomenological design was conducted involving eight final-year students from the Guidance and Counseling Study Program at Universitas Islam Negeri Ar-Raniry Banda Aceh. Participants were selected using purposive sampling based on their experiences of academic stress while completing their theses. Data were collected through semi-structured in-depth interviews and analyzed using the Miles and Huberman interactive model. The findings revealed five interconnected themes: emotional regulation, cognitive restructuring, physical recovery, task management, and the utilization of social support. One notable finding indicates that taking a temporary break should not be viewed as procrastination but rather as an adaptive self-regulation strategy that restores emotional and cognitive readiness before students resume academic work. These findings highlight the importance of strengthening university counseling services through individual counseling, group counseling, and academic mentoring programs to enhance students' coping capacities during the completion of their final projects.