Konseling Daring Pendukung Siswa Cerdas (KDPSC): A Preliminary Evaluation of iCBT Treatments for Indonesian Freshmen with Social Anxiety

During the transition period from adolescence to adulthood, individuals with high level of social anxiety may face challenges in their academics, social life, and career. The internet-based Cognitive Behavior Therapy (iCBT) module "Konseling Daring Pendukung Siswa Cerdas" (KDPSC) was developed to intervene with the social anxiety experienced by Indonesian young adults. Fifteen university freshmen with moderate to high levels of social anxiety agreed to fully participate in all sessions of the program. The sessions were conducted under the guidance of registered psychologists through the chatting platform on Google Hangouts. Indonesian version of Social Anxiety Scale for Adolescents (SAS-A) were administered during the pretest and posttest. We initially conducted a qualitative assessment during the intervention and found three emergent themes at the beginning of Session Two, namely, loneliness, the feeling of having no choice, and social withdrawal. After the end of Session Two, three emergent themes were found; 1), positive thinking, 2) feeling academically motivated, and 3) intention to open up. The main finding showed that students’ level of social anxiety after intervention (M = 58.07; SE = 3.28; t(14) = 4.250; p<0.01; Cohen’s d=0.875) was significantly lower than before intervention (M = 67.20; SE = 2.048). Further implications of the study are discussed.

high levels of uneasiness without any particular triggers. Individuals who suffer from social anxiety fear being negatively judged by others (Leary & Kowalski, 1995) and experience discomfort in social situations, especially in unfamiliar environments (La Greca & Lopez, 1998).
Subsequently, individuals with social anxiety tend to decrease the intensity by which they interact with others and even shy away from social situations in their daily lives (Leary & Kowalski, 1995). It is evident that there is an interaction between the cognitive and behavioral processes of individuals with social anxiety.
Social anxiety can interfere with the daily activities of individuals who experience it, especially in terms of establishing relationships (Tillfors et al., 2012). Ramdhani, Widjaja, and Rahmawati (2015) noted that adolescents might experience shy-social isolated problems due to social anxiety and cognitive distortion.
Adolescents experiencing social anxiety may also experience a decline in academic performance (Ranta et al., 2012).
Social anxiety may continue to worsen if one does not seek psychological treatment. However, difficulty to reach mental health service facilities and limited availability of professionals are factors that can prevent individuals with psychological problems from getting help to overcome their struggles (Putri, Yahya & Saputra, 2019).
These limitations can be minimized by utilizing the presence of educational practitioners as counsellors, given that adolescents spend most of their time at school. A teacher should not only assist students in academic-related issues but also guide their social development (Jennings & Greenberg, 2009). Lecturers and teaching staff are also considered some of the closest people students can rely on in the face of problems (Putri et al., 2019). However, in Indonesia, the actualization of educational practitioners' role as adolescents' support system in the face of psychological problems is still questionable.
A study by Putri et al. (2019) found that lecturers encounter difficulties in trying to assist students who experience problems.
Lecturers have limited time for face-to-face discussions and also struggle with the unavailability of a private and comfortable space to discuss psychological issues experienced by students on campus.
On the other hand, people with social anxiety can experience chronic worries when having to deal with others, including interacting with counsellors who help them overcome their anxiety disorder (Woods et al., 2017). There is a need for a strategy that connects those who suffer social anxiety with counsellors without them having to conduct face-to-face counselling.
Internet as a product of information  (Wright, 2006). In addition, individuals are also engaged in activities that improve coping skills, social skills, and problemsolving skills (Wright, 2006) (Leary, 1983), which focuses on the subjective component of anxiety during contingent social interaction, such as in one's interaction with his or her teacher or boss, opposite sex or during job interviews. The Interaction Anxiousness Scale (Leary, 1983) is widely used to measure social anxiety in  Table 1.

Instruments
This research employed the Social Anxiety 1: "Let us start a change." Psychoeducation regarding social anxiety during academic transitions and iCBT 2 2: "Things are not that bad." Identifying maladaptive thoughts and seeking alternative thoughts 3 3: "Everything is beginning to be under control." Writing down activities the participants want to do 4 4: "The new me." Writing down a problem-solving plan 5 5: "Evaluation and termination."  Table 2.

Data analysis
Hypothesis testing was conducted using a ttest to identify differences in levels of social anxiety before and after the intervention.
Additionally, the analysis of qualitative results employed thematic analysis techniques (Braun & Clarke, 2006) to acquire a detailed understanding of the themes that emerged from the participants' answers.

Main findings
Based on Table 3, the participants' average score in the SAS-A experienced a decline from 67.2 to 59.7. The change in participants' SAS-A scores before and after the intervention can be seen in Figure 3. Statistical results indicate that the iCBT intervention program has the potential to reduce students' social anxiety in students.
I feel shy even with peers I know well (21) Specifically, a significant decrease in participants' social anxiety levels was seen in the aspects of "fear of negative evaluation" (Figure 4) and "social avoidance and distress in a new situation" (Figure 5).    (Table 4).
At the end of Session 2, the counsellor engaged participants in seeking alternative thoughts to make X and Y can feel better. In addition, participants reflected on their thoughts and feelings through the question "If you were X and Y, how would you feel  (Table 5).
It should be underlined that this data only illustrates the assessment process of Session 2 and does not constitute the overall program evaluation.  Individuals worry about being negatively judged by friends, subsequently close off themselves and withdraw from the environment.
"Tired, (too) lazy to go to campus, want to hurry home, more comfortable spending time alone, …" (A, Y) "Afraid and paranoid that friends may think I am not fun. …" (D, X) "…I want to mingle and try to become chummier with my friends, but negative thoughts continue to bother me. And eventually I would choose to be quiet and withdraw from them." (I, X)  "I will feel more optimistic, think and act more positive." (K, X) "Indeed, I will feel more at peace …" (C, X) "I will be more grateful for what I have …" (K, Y) Feeling academicall y motivated Individuals are keen to take part or continue with academic activities "I will feel more motivated to study, so I do cognitive schemes or core beliefs (Beck & Dozois, 2011;Wright, 2006). Cognitive schemes allow more efficient information processing (automatic thought), thereby affecting individual behavior (Beck & Dozois, 2011;Calvete, Orue & Hankin, 2013). If an individual has a maladaptive scheme or belief, the individual will have maladaptive automatic thoughts that will affect their individual behavioral response.
At the beginning of Session 2, results of qualitative assessment indicated that the subjects experienced a fear of negative evaluation. In this case, the theme social withdrawal refers to a subject's tendency to avoid social activities/interactions or not voice their opinion for fear of being negatively judged by peers. This behavior is influenced by the subjects' maladaptive scheme via automatic thoughts (Calvete et al., 2013). Therefore, before addressing the behavioral aspects, the maladaptive aspects of the subjects' cognition need to be altered.
This alteration was conducted in Session 2.
In session 2, the counsellor conducted a Socratic dialogue with each subject, which is a guided discovery method done by asking a series of questions to help the subject define the problem, identify thoughts and beliefs, see the meaning of events, and assess the consequences of thought or behavior. The process allows subjects to see different perspectives in assessing themselves and the situation at hand (Beck & Dozois, 2011;Wright, 2006