The Effectiveness of Group Counseling on Visual Imagery and Deep Breathing Techniques to Improve Achievement Motivation of Junior High School Students

The decrease in achievement motivation of students resulted in a decrease in academic achievement. Achievement motivation needs to be considered and developed in learning efforts in schools. The techniques in this study consisted of namely visual imagery techniques and deep breathing. Both of these techniques were derivatives of the mindfulness approach. The objectives of this study were namely (1) to examine the effectiveness of counseling services implementation by using visual imagery and deep breathing techniques to increase Achievement Motivation in students, (2) to determine the level of effectiveness of counseling services implementation by using visual imagery and deep breathing techniques to improve students’ achievement motivation at Public Junior High School 3 Colomadu Karanganyar. The research method used was a quasi-experimental design with a nonequivalent control group design. The research sample was obtained from the inclusion and exclusion criteria who had low Achievement Motivation totaling 40 students who were divided into four groups randomly. The results of hypothesis testing were obtained by using the Repeated Measures ANOVA test. The results revealed that the Deep Breathing technique in group counseling is more effective than the Visual Imagery technique. However, the combination of the two techniques is significantly more effective. Based on the research results, it can be concluded that there are differences in the effectiveness level of the four groups in increasing the totaling 40 students of Public Junior High School 3 Colomadu. Group counseling services using two techniques, namely visual imagery, and deep breathing techniques are more effective than using only one technique. In addition, if the two techniques are compared, the deep breathing technique is more effective.