Development and Validation of An Online Group Narrative Therapy Protocol for Students with Poor Self-Regulated Learning and High Social Anxiety

Abstract

Narrative therapy is influenced by social constructivism, a philosophical theory suggesting that reality is not objective but is instead constructed through social interaction and language. There is a growing interest in exploring Narrative Therapy's effectiveness and potential benefits for individuals experiencing mental health challenges, but evidence of thisapproach in Indonesia is lacking. The current research aims to validate the narrative therapy protocol in an online group setting for university students. Narrative therapy is proposed to help them challenge the negative stories they tell themselves regarding social situations and develop more helpful stories to enhance their self-regulated learning. Three clinical psychologists with 10-12 year of working experience participated in the first round of expert judgment of the therapy protocol developed by author (Aiken’s V score= 0.8476). Elevenclinical psychologists with 1-6 years of working experience participated in the second round (Aiken’s V score= 0.9692). This protocol was applied in a quasi-experimental design to eight university students in the pilot intervention. In conclusion, the narrative therapy protocol is valid for further research with larger samples and more intricate study designs, for example, randomized controlled trials. Based on the pilot intervention, guidelines in the therapy protocol are applicable and easy to follow. However, further research is needed to claim its effectiveness compared to other therapy
approaches.

Keywords: narrative therapy, protocol validation, self-regulated learning, social anxiety, university students