Reducing Bullying Behavior Through Group Counseling Based on the Solution Focused Brief Counseling Approach

Abstract

Bullying behavior is a serious problem in the school environment because it negatively impacts the psychological, social, and academic conditions of students. Although various efforts have been made, the use of Solution Focused Brief Counseling-based group counseling services as an intervention to reduce bullying behavior at the junior high school level is still limited. The SFBC approach focuses on the development of solutions, the use of individual strengths, and the success experiences of students so that it is expected to be able to encourage positive behavior change and reduce the tendency to bully. This study aims to analyze the level of bullying behavior of students before and after participating in SFBC-based group counseling services and test its effectiveness. The study uses a quantitative approach with a One Group Pretest-Posttest design on 10 grade VII students of SMP Negeri 3 Brebes who were selected purposively. Data was collected through questionnaires, observations, and documentation, then analyzed using descriptive statistics, Shapiro-Wilk normality test, and Paired Sample t-Test. The results showed that the average score of bullying behavior decreased from 108.00 to 100.60 with a significance value of 0.000 (p < 0.05). These findings show that SFBC-based group counseling services are effective in reducing students' bullying behavior. Practically, the results of this study can be an alternative for guidance and counseling teachers in developing solution-oriented intervention services to prevent and reduce bullying behavior and create a safer and conducive school climate.