THE INFLUENCE OF COUNSELING AND STORYTELLING METHOD ON THE ANXIETY LEVELS OF PRIMARY SCHOOL CHILDREN TO RECEIVE COVID-19 VACCINE

Background: The World Health Organization, WHO explains that sadness and anxiety are the most common mental health problems. Anxiety for children occurs due to the COVID-19 vaccination program by the government may cause uncooperative attitudes. Thus, this situation may lower the children's effectiveness to join learning activities. This research analyzed the influence of counseling with the storytelling method on the anxiety of school learners to receive COVID-19 vaccination in Primary School 03 Bulungcangkring.Method: This research applied a quasi-experimental research design with a pre- and post-test control group approach. The sample consisted of 58 respondents taken with the proportionate stratified random sampling technique. Each group, the intervention, and control group, consisted of 29 respondents. The researchers analyzed the data with paired t-test.Results: The results showed that before the intervention group received the intervention, a percentage of 44.8% of learners were anxious. Then, a percentage of 55.2% of learners experienced extreme anxiety. In the control group side, a percentage of 65.5% of learners experienced moderate anxiety while a percentage of 35.5% of learners experienced extreme anxiety. After administering the counseling to manage the respondents’ anxiety levels, the respondents performed lower anxiety. Some respondents had mild, moderate, and extreme anxiety levels. In the intervention group, a percentage of 10.3% of learners experienced moderate anxiety, a percentage of 41.4% with moderate anxiety, and a percentage of 6.9% of respondents without anxiety level. On the other hand, in the control group, a percentage of 3.4% of respondents experienced mild anxiety, a percentage of 55.2% of respondents with moderate anxiety, and a percentage of 41.4% of respondents with extreme anxiety.Conclusion: The paired t-test results showed the influence of the respondents' anxiety levels in both groups after being treated by counseling with the storytelling method, a p-value of 0.001 < 0.05.