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EFFECTIVENESS PROBLEM-FOCUSED COPING TRAINING TO
REDUCE THE LEVEL OF HOMESICKNESS STUDENT OF UMMUL
MUKMININ BOARDING SCHOOL
Azizah Ika Adhani
( Ialfarafishah@gmail.com )
Ahmad
( a hmadrazak71@gmail.com )
Ahmad Ridfah
( r idfah@yahoo.com )
Faculty of Psychology, State University of Makassar
Jl. AP Pettarani Makassar, 90222
ABSTRACT
Pupils are classified as the learners who are susceptible to feel homesick. One of
the causes of homesickness students is a problem-solving skill. The training of
problem-focused coping, is one of the strategies to reduce the impact caused by
homesickness. The purpose of this study is to determine the effectiveness of the
training of problem-focused coping strategies to decrease the level of
homesickness students. The respondents in the study are 25 female students who
showed moderate to high levels of homesickness. Homesickness is measured
using a homesickness scale that has a Cronbach alpha value at 0.859. The design
used in this research is The One-group pretest-posttest design. Based on the
hypothesis test using Wilcoxon Signed Rank test obtains by value z = -4334 and
the value of p = 0.000 <0.05. These results indicate a significant decrease in the
level of homesickness on the students. This research can be used as a reference in
implementing the training problem-focused coping to solve homesick teenager
problem, especially those of the female in Islamic School.
Keywords:Homesickness, Problem-focused coping, Female Student
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Education is a basic requirement
for individuals, communities and
nations, because it has an important
role in the life and human progress.
Education also aims to mature man,
both from the psychological, social,
emotional, or spiritual terms. The
education process also serves to
educate students towards a more
independent and responsible. The
higher the quality of education the
higher the quality of human
resources of a nation (Inayah &
Fatimaningsih, 2012). Indonesia is
the country with a Muslim majority
population, so that the progress and
dynamics of Islam began in the
development of the education system
has to offer, is the religious
educational institutions based
boarding (Boarding School).
Handono and Bashori (2013)
reveals the learners in a boarding
school called the students who
generally live in boarding schools.
Students who live in the cottage is
not only coming from the area where
it stands boarding school, but also
outside of the city, and some even
come from outside the province, so
that the students will meet with other
students of different regions of origin
and cultural background. The
transition requires children to be
exposed to the environment and the
recent changes in the boarding
school and is in a neighborhood
away and separated from families
and parents.
Pritaningrum and Hendriani
(2013) describes the new changes in
the boarding school include
differences in physical and social
environment to make students who
entered in the new environment will
have its own problems. One of the
main problems facing the students is
related to the adjustment to the new
environment. Individuals who go
through life with the boarding system
is certainly required to be able to
adapt to various situations that will
be experienced as far away from
their parents, in order to survive until
the individual can complete his
studies at the boarding school.
Ratnawati (2013) argued that the
adjustments in the boarding schools
students are required to follow the
rules and regulations set by the lodge
to realize the goals and vision and
mission in order to comply with the
system in accordance with the values
of Islam. Determination of the order
is expected to accustom students to a
disciplined life. The coaching
process in the academic field in the
boarding school also has a different
curriculum with other schools such
as education lodge, the use of Arabic
and English in their daily life,
extracurricular activities, and the
cottage as well as some of the
evaluation system implemented after
school until evening. Hidayat (2012)
suggested that entering the new
environment as life with a boarding
system is very different from the
previous individual life sometimes
becomes a stimulus for individuals
who may be causing problems in his
adjustment.
Life in separate boarding schools
far from home and family as well as
the various demands on the
environment can make individuals
experiencing homesickness reaction,
shown in terms of emotion,
cognition, physical and behavior
(Tilburg, 2005). Homesickness is

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defined as a condition of depressed
and often experienced when leaving
the house or in the new environment
and foreign (Shahmohammadi &
Irranejad, 2011). Based on the survey
of 35 respondents female students in
boarding school who experienced
symptoms of homesickness,
complaints of students is to always
feel close to family (34.2%),
academic demands (37.1%), a solid
routine so difficult to manage time
and be experiencing rapid physical
fatigue (28.5%), conflict with
seniors, such as bullying, getting a
warning from a senior because he felt
disrespected (37.1%), the issue of
penalties for violations by (5.71%),
and having problems with schedule
tomorrow slightly (5.71%).
Homesickness occurs because of
concerns raised in the new
environment, the immature coping
strategy in problem solving, feel fear,
and longing for family. Factors
influencing homesickness can also
come from an external individual,
such as a lack of social support and
the difficulty of individuals to adapt.
Various measures can be taken so
that students can handle feelings of
homesickness experienced, one of
them a method of coping strategy.
Lazarus and Folkman
(Fauziannisa & Tairas, 2013) states
that the coping strategy is to regulate
the behavior that leads to solving the
problems and situations that can
cause stress. Coping strategies in
individuals is done by problem-
focused coping, which is a strategy
the ability to solve problems, and
emotion-focused coping, which is a
strategy to reduce the impact of the
problem and tended to pull in a
stressful situation.
Muhonen and Torkelson (2011)
suggests that problem-focused
coping tends to be more beneficial to
the health of individuals rather than
use emotion-focused coping, because
the aspect of problem-focused coping
strategy is to change the way people
view the source of stress and how to
solve them. While emotion-focused
coping strategy is to avoid stress for
a while but do not eliminate the
effects of stress. Denovan &
Macaskill (2013) in his study of 10
subjects in the first year students UK
Sheffield Hallan University found
that the coping strategies to approach
problem-focused coping is to have a
positive impact in overcoming
homesickness.
Hasan and Rufaidah (2003)
suggested that the presence of
positive coping behaviors that will
benefit the individual to live his life
even though he has a problem. The
problems experienced in schools lies
in the ability of individuals to deal
with, understand, and manage a
bottleneck or problem. Coping
strategies at the individual will
determine the process of adjusting
themselves to the new life in
boarding school and lasts up to
complete the process of education at
the boarding school.
Lazarus and Folkman (Fauzianna
& Tairas, 2013) suggests that if the
stress is not handled or managed
properly it will provide long-term
effects that impact on the onset of
disease, depression, and health
problems. Points the importance to
do an intervention to manage and
handle stress, coping with
psychoeducation form of training
that focuses on the problem.

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Nijhof and Engels (2007)
suggested that homesickness is a
negative emotional state
characterized by continuously
thinking of home, loss of friends, and
a desire to return to a familiar
environment and sometimes physical
complaints. Children who experience
homesickness in level high, it is
possible to tend to withdraw socially
and unwilling to participate in the
activities.
Thurber and Walton (2007)
explained that homesickness is
regarded as a normal reaction when
people separated from home and
family environment. However, when
an individual is experiencing severe
homesickness and beyond normal
limits then the individual will be
difficult to adapt to the new
environment. It makes a person
experiencing profound loneliness,
depression and can lead to physical
and behavioral disorders.
Kamae & Weisani (2004)
suggests that there are several
aspects related to homesickness,
namely:
a. The tendency to return home,
individuals who experienced
homesickness characterized by an
attitude of individuals who
constantly thinking about the home.
b. lack of problem solving, when the
individual can not solve the problem,
it will make the individual is
experiencing difficulties in their
environment.
c. Feeling alone, because it can not
adapt to the new environment, in
differing social and interpersonal
needs that are not fulfilled.
d. The craving for families,
individuals who indicated
experiencing homesickness will
show the condition miss family and
members of his family, and feel
dependent on family members.
e. Nostalgia in a familiar
environment, individuals who
experience homesickness will feel
homesick friends and familiar
surroundings earlier. It can also be
seen from the lack of the ability of
individuals to interact with the new
social environment, so that could
create a conflict for them.
Mohammadi and Irranejad
(2012) suggested that coping training
can be one of the techniques used in
an attempt to manage stress and
develop the ability to deal with an
unpleasant situation. Strategies that
can be used into problem-focused
coping and emotion-focused coping
strategies. Carver, Scheiher, and
Weintraub (1989) also suggests that
the strategy of using problem-
focused coping assist individuals
with direct action, as well as good
planning strategy in solving the
problem.
Thurber and Walton (2007)
suggested that individuals with high
homesickness tend to withdraw and
would be difficult to adapt to the new
environment. It can make individuals
experience deep loneliness,
depression and can lead to physical
and behavioral disorders, so it takes
effort to get out of the condition. One
individual efforts to deal with issues
such as homesickness, namely the
use of a good coping strategy
(Hidayat, 2012).
Coping strategies are divided into
problem-focused coping (PFC) and
emotion-focused coping (EFC).
Individuals who use the problem
focused coping focused on the
problems encountered and convinced

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that the demands of the situation can
be changed. Individuals who use
emotion-focused coping tends to
regulate their emotional response
when faced with stressful situations
such as searching for activities that
distract people on the problem
(Carver, Scheier, & Weintraub,
1989).
Based on several studies,
problem-focused coping strategies
become an important capacity to
manage the demands and emphasis
on new environments by combining
positive emotions in the process of
resolving the problem. It is also
supported by the theory proposed by
Denovan and MacAskill (2013) that
problem-focused coping is regarded
as consistent efforts in dealing with
the stress of homesickness effort is
positive and effective, because it
deals directly with problem
situations. A similar study conducted
by Chinaveh (2013) which states that
the problem-focused coping skill is
one of the active coping strategies
are effective in dealing with stress.
A similar study conducted by
Denovan & MacAskill (2013) of the
10 subjects first year student at
Sheffield Hallan UK University
which found that the coping
strategies to approach problem-
focused coping has a positive impact
in overcoming homesickness.
Ratnawati (2013) also stated in the
results of new research on 63 female
students in one of the boarding
school in Bandung that intervention
using problem-focused coping
strategies can reduce the level of
stress experienced students.
RESEARCH METHODS
The study design used by the
researchers is the one group pretest
posttest design, the research by
providing initial measurements, then
giving treatment on the subject. After
the treatment is done, will be re-
measurement of the dependent
variable with the same measuring
instrument.
The scale used in this study is the
homesickness scale made by
researchers based on aspects of
Kamae and Weizani (2004).
Hypothesis of testing in this study
can be seen through the pretest and
posttest scores comparison process of
participants by using the Wilcoxon
signed rank test with SPSS 21.0 for
windows.Wilcoxon signed rank test
according to Sugiyono (2013) is a
hypothesis test classified into
nonparametric aimed to compare two
measurement results, ie a score of
pretest and posttest by seeing the
difference from the two data.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Based on the description of the
age of the subject, this can be seen
that the largest presentation is at 76%
which comes from which was 12
years old of subject. Meanwhile, the
smallest percentage at 4% came from
the respondents which 13 years old.
While the subject Based on the origin
can be seen that the biggest
presentation, at 32% came from the
city of Makassar.
The results of the measurement
of the level of homesickness on the
subject showed that the average of
homesickness during the pretest is
equal to 82.2. Minimum and
maximum homesickness are 135 and
45 respectively. The mean of
homesickness in the post test is at

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95.6 from minimum and maximum
homesickness at 135 and at 48.
Based on table 95.6 categorization
classified in the category. This
indicates that students who
experience homesickness classified
as moderate and high.
The measurement results
homesickness female students level,
suggesting that the results of pretest
whole subject that is in the category
were as many as 10 people, and 15
people at the high category. Posttest
results indicate that there is one
subject that had previously been in
the high category, are now in the low
category, 10 subjects were previously
located in the high category are now
in the medium category, and one
subject that had previously been in
the category are now in the low
category. It shows a decrease in the
level of homesickness on 12 research
subjects.
Based on the evaluation of
participants' reactions to the material
of one to five looks more participants
think that in terms of knowledge,
purpose, clarity, and regularity of the
material is in excellent condition. At
one and two presenters look more
participants think that in terms of
mastery, method, and communicative
in presenting the material as very
good. Based on the results of data
analysis, this obtains significance
value of p = 0.000 (p <0.05),
meaning that H0 is rejected and Ha is
accepted. Wilcoxon signed rank test
showed the value of Z at -4334 it
indicates that the value of Z is
smaller than the value of table. So,
problem-focused coping training are
effective in a decrease in the level of
homesickness in Makassar female
students. Female students
homesickness level is a lower level
after they are given the training, than
before are given the training
problem-focused coping. Research
on problem-focused coping is that of
compared with by Chinaveh research
(2013) that the training had very
positive impact in students of
boarding school experiencing
homesickness and can reduce the
difficulty in adapting in the boarding
school.
CONCLUSIONS AND
RECOMMENDATIONS
Based on the results of
hypothesis test training and problem-
focused coping and homesickness
showed that the training problem-
focused coping is effective in
lowering the level of homesickness
female students boarding school
Ummul Mukminin, Makassar. The
results proved the posttest which has
a smaller value than the pretest.
Suggestion
1. For students who experienced
homesickness advised to
continue adjustment to the
boarding school environment
and be able to apply problem-
focused coping strategies
when it has a problem at the
school.
2. For the counseling of
boarding School with
condition that new students
who experienced
homesickness by providing
social support, either
instrumental or emotional. As
well as helping students to
organize their time properly

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and effectively in the
boarding school.
3. For further research in order
to use other methods and
training to reduce
homesickness variables, such
as emotion-focusedcoping or
social-skills training.
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