The Effectiveness of Doodling Art Therapy as an Intervention in Reducing Academic Stress Among 12th-Grade Students

Abstract

Twelfth-grade students face heavy academic demands that place them at risk of academic stress, yet brief school-based interventions that need no specialized equipment remain scarce in Indonesia. This study examined changes in academic stress among 12th-grade students after a brief doodling art therapy program. A one-group pretest-posttest design was applied to 23 students aged 17 to 18 years at SMAN 8 Surabaya, selected through purposive sampling. The program consisted of a stress management education session and three 20-minute doodling sessions delivered within one week. Academic stress was measured with the Educational Stress Scale for Adolescents before and after the program and analyzed with a paired-samples t-test. The mean score decreased from 56.65 to 52.26, a mean difference of 4.39 points (95% CI [3.23, 5.55]), t(22) = 7.87, p < .001, Cohen's dz = 1.64. The small sample, the absence of a control group, and the lack of a follow-up measurement limit causal inference. The findings offer preliminary evidence that a brief doodling program is accompanied by lower mean academic stress scores and warrants controlled testing in school counseling settings.