The Effectiveness of Reality Therapy in Group Counseling to Achieve Student Motivation for Academic Well-Being

Abstract

Students today have to deal with various academic pressures stemming from the learning system itself or surrounding factors. Academic stress can erode students’ motivation for achievement which in turn affects academic well-being. However, the counseling approach is considered an effective means to address this issue. This study examines the effectiveness of reality therapy in group counseling as a means to improve the motivation for achievement among students. This quasi-experimental study employed pre- and post-test designs for two groups involving 40 Form Four students in a secondary school in Malaysia. The students were selected through the purposive sampling method and the research instrument used was the Achievement Motivation Test (AMT) introduced by Abu Bakar Nordin (1995). Data were analyzed using the SPSS Version 26 software through a paired t-test for the pre- and post treatment groups as well as an independent sample t-test between treatment group and control group who’s given motivational readin g materials. The study found significant differences between the pre- and post -test achievement motivation scores for the treatment group (p