COLORING YOUR DAY: MEWARNAI MANDALA UNTUK MENURUNKAN STRES AKADEMIK

Abstract

Higher education, especially in a university setting, is often accompanied by high levels of stress. Academic stress is a common challenge for university students, especially with high academic demands. This study conducted a "Coloring your day" activity using mandala coloring as an effort to overcome academic stress in college students. Mandala coloring is recognized as a tool to enhance creativity and as a form to reduce anxiety and stress. This experiment aims to observe the positive impact of coloring mandalas on student stress before and after the activity. An experimental approach with pretest and posttest using academic stress questionnaire was used on four Psychology students of Batam University who were selected as samples. The results of this study showed that mandala coloring activities had a positive impact on mood and academic stress reduction in respondents. Although there are limitations in this study, it can be said that coloring mandalas can be an alternative solution to manage academic stress in students.