GROUP COUNSELING WITH SELF-MANAGEMENT TECHNIQUES: EFFECTIVE STRATEGIES FOR REDUCING NOMOPHOBIA AMONG ADOLESCENTS

This study aimed to find out the effectiveness of group counseling with self-management technique in reducing nomophobia among adolescents. This experimental research applied one group pretest-posttest design. The participants in this study were eight Vocational High School students in Yogyakarta City, Indonesia, who were recruited using simple random sampling technique. The data of the study were collected using Nomophobia scale and analyzed using Wilcoxon test. Based on the result of data analysis, it could be concluded that group counseling with self-management techniques was effective in reducing nomophobia among adolescents, especially Vocational High School students in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. School counselors could use the result of this study as a reference to help students reduce nomophobia through group counseling with self-management techniques.


INTRODUCTION
Almost every person, especially teenagers, has a smartphone since it has become an important part of adolescent life (Pavithra MB, 2015;Lemola, et al., 2015;Chung, et al., 2018;Schweizer, et al., 2017). It allows individuals to conveniently establish communication through social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, and Line. In addition to social network, they may easily find entertainment Youtube, TikTok, and games on. They may also access information through applications such as Google and various online news applications. Despite the benefits a smartphone offers, it can trigger adolescents' anxiety when they are away from the smartphone.
The anxiety experienced by teenagers when they are away from a smartphone is called nomophobia. The word "nomophobia" comes from English word, standing for "No Mobile Phone Phobia", a phobia without a mobile phone (King, et al., 2014). Nomophobia has infected people around the world, including in Indonesia. It can even be considered as a disease among today's adolescents (Muyana & Widyastuti, 2017 Vol.8, No.2, December 2019 Yogyakarta, Indonesia, who were recruited through a simple random sampling technique, showed that 5% of their participants' nomophobia was categorized as very high (%), 31% of them was categorized as high, 35% of them was categorized as medium, 24% of them was categorized as low, and 5% of them was categorized very low. Based on the results of this study, it is necessary to treat adolescents with nomophobia to support their developmental tasks.
One of the efforts can be made to overcome the issue of nomophobia among adolescents is by implementing group counseling with self-management techniques. As Widyastuti & Muyana (2019) argue, group counseling with selfmanagement techniques is seen as one of the appropriate solutions for dealing with nomophobia among adolescents. Applying group counseling with self-management techniques, adolescents are expected to direct and get rid of their anxiety when they are away from their smartphones, allowing them to be more independent and productive.
This study aimed to examine the effectiveness of group counseling with selfmanagement techniques in reduce nomophobia among adolescents. Nomophobia is a unique psychological disorder, which develops in a today's modern society. The results of the study are expected to be used as a reference for school counselors to help students reduce nomophobia.

METHODOLOGY
This experimental research applied one group pretest-posttest design. The participants were eight Vocational High School students in Yogyakarta City, Indonesia, who were recruited using simple random sampling. The data were collected using the nomophobia scale and analyzed using Wilcoxon test.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Before the treatment, i.e., group counseling with self-management techniques, was given, participants' nomophobia level was measured using the nomophobia scale (pretest). Table 1 shows that all participants' nomophobia was categorized as very high. Following the pretest, the treatment was given. It was done for several meetings until a change in participants' anxiety was noticed. After the treatment was given, the participants' nomophobia was measured using nomophobia scale again (posttest). Table 2 displays the change in participants' nomophobia after receiving treatment. Data from the pretest and posttest results were further analyzed using the Wilcoxon test to find out the effectiveness of the treatment. The Wilcoxon analysis result is presented in Table 3.  By comparing the pretest and posttest scores, supported by the results of the p-ISSN 2301-6167 e-ISSN 2528-7206 | 60 Wilcoxon analysis at the significance level <0.05, it could be concluded that the group counseling of self-management technique was effective for reducing nomophobia among adolescents.
Vocational High School students, as millenials, could quickly adapt to today's technologies, including using smartphones. This phenomenon may influence their habits and lifestyle. As Mulyana, et al. (2018) state, smartphones play central roles in adolescents' life due to its entertainment, communication, and information features. Unrestricted use of smartphone can adversely affect adolescents, as they become more focused on the device instead of establishing interaction with their environment.
Smartphone mobility, which benefits and helps teenagers, can also cause serious problems (Yildirim, 2014;Yildirim & Correia, 2015;Argumosa-Villar, et al., 2017;Kalaskar, 2015). The relationship between adolescents and smartphones affects their interpersonal behavior and social habits (King, et al., 2013;Gezgin, et al., 2018). At their age, adolescents' developmental task is to establish close relationships with other people or peers. When they are too enganged with smartphones than with their surrounding environment, their future social life may be affected. When adolescents' social skills is not well-trained, they are at risk of failure in living a social life.
Since smartphone has become inseparable part of adolescents' daily life, its high intensity of usage may affect their learning focus. It can also triggers anxiety when they are separated from their smartphone, a condition known as nomophobia. It is a term that refers to a group of behaviors caused by anxiety related to mobile phone usage. A group of psychiatric researchers in Brazil has defined a new disorder called nomophobia or an acronym for no-mobile phone phobia, which describes an individual's anxiety when away from a mobile phone device or what is currently developing known as a smartphone (Cheever, et al., 2014). King, et al. (2013) consider nomophobia as a modern personality disorder to describe the discomfort or anxiety caused by the desire to be close to virtual communication devices. Thus, it can be concluded that nomophobia is a phobia experienced by individuals when they are away from their smartphones.
Nomophobia in adolescents is a serious problem because if it is not immediately addressed, adolescents' future life aspects may be affected. Vocational High School is one of the levels of formal institutions in the education dimension which has a strategic role in educating, improving, and internalizing values in students. At this level of education, school counselors can provide special services with curative functions to help students solve and overcome their nomophobia.
One of the school counselor' services is group counseling with self-management technique. It proven to be effective in reducing nomophobia among adolescents because of its group approach. A group approach is considered effective because it provides opportunities for individuals to socialize with their surroundings (Stephens, et al., 2010;Bulantika, et al., 2018;Pérusse, et al., 2009;Rose & Steen , 2014).
In addition to group approach, the treatment in this study also applied selfmanagement techniques to reduce nomophobia among adolescents. It is a technique for managing individual behavior in order to achieve independence and productivity (Briesch DuBois, et al., 2017;Grady, et al., 2014). In practice, the responsibility for the success of selfmanagement-based group counseling rests with the client (i.e., student). In group counselling with self-management technique, the counselor acts as an idea originator, a facilitator who helps design programs, and a motivator for the client (McMahon, 2009;Landon & Schultz, 2018;Powel, et al., 2010).
This counseling is done through several stages, namely self-monitoring (recording the presence or absence of a person's behavior), self-evaluation (assessing the quality of a person's behavior using a rating JURNAL BIMBINGAN DAN KONSELING Vol.8, No.2, December 2019 scale), and self-reinforcement (after determining a behavior quality so they can choose the reward) (King-Sears, 2006). Through these stages, students are expected to obtain new learning experiences to overcome their nomophobia.
Through group counseling with selfmanagement techniques, individuals are expected to perform self-management to fulfill their needs and achieve their goals. In broader sense, It is expected that students can controlg their overall existence (i.e., physical, emotional, mental, soul existence) and life realities. The main strategy in selfmanagement is that individuals try to understand themselves with all their weakness and strengths. Individuals with proper time management will never lose time and opportunity to complete their tasks. Such individuals are able to make decisions quickly and have initiative and bright ideas related to their tasks.
Adolescents with good self-management are able to determine priority goals by using time effectively and efficiently. They can make changes to achieve a prosperous life. That is, for adolescents with nomophobia, the final goal of group counseling with selfmanagement technique is to deliver a new individual with good self-management skill to use smartphone based on their needs, so that they complete other tasks as a student. In other words, adolescents can achieve developmental tasks according to their age and can achieve a prosperous life.
The results of this study support other studies that found the effectiveness of group counseling with self-management techniques in solving other problems. The results of these studies, among others, show the effectiveness of group counseling with self-management techniques to reduce aggressiveness in adolescents (Sa'diyah, et al., 2017), reduce learning anxiety in students (Hermanto, 2017), reduce Facebook addiction (Triantoro, 2013), even Group counseling self-management techniques are also effectively used in the medical field such as in patients with heart failure (Powell, et al., 2010), the application of self-management in patients with chronic health (Lawn & Schoo, 2010). Selfmanagement is one of the effective strategies to solve various problems, especially nomophobia among adolescents.

CONCLUSION
Based on the result of the study, it can be concluded that group counseling with selfmanagement techniques is effective in reducing nomophobia among adolescents. School counselors can use this finding as a reference to help students reduce nomophobia through group counseling with self-management techniques. (2018). Group counseling with systematic desensitization techniques and thought-stopping techniques to reduce social anxiety. Jurnal Bimbingan Konseling, 7(2), 106-112. Cheever, N., Rosen, Larry., et al. 2014. Out of sight is not out of mind: The impact of restricting wireless mobile device use on anxiety levels among low, moderate and high users. Computers