Efektivitas Pijat Refleksi terhadap Penurunan Tingkat Kecemasan pada Santri Remaja di Pondok Pesantren Madinatul Qur'an Bogor

Abstract

Background: Anxiety is one of the mental health issues commonly experienced by adolescents, including students living in Islamic boarding schools. Boarding school life, academic demands, Quran memorization goals, and the process of adapting to a new environment can all be factors that trigger anxiety. One complementary therapy that can be used to address anxiety is foot reflexology. Objective: To determine the effect of reflexology massage on the anxiety levels of students at the Madinatul Qur'an Islamic Boarding School in Bogor. Method: This study used a quasi-experimental design with a non-equivalent pretest-posttest control group approach. The study sample consisted of 66 respondents, comprising 33 respondents in the experimental group and 33 respondents in the control group. Anxiety levels were measured using the Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HARS). The experimental group received reflexology massage therapy for 7–15 minutes after the Isha prayer, while the control group received no intervention. Data analysis was performed using the Wilcoxon test. Results: Before the intervention, the majority of respondents in the experimental group experienced mild anxiety (18 respondents, 54.5%), while the control group was dominated by respondents with mild and moderate anxiety (13 respondents each, 39.4%). After the intervention, the majority of the experimental group fell into the “not anxious” category, with 23 respondents (69.7%), while the control group was still dominated by those with moderate anxiety, with 16 respondents (48.5%). The results of the Wilcoxon test showed a p-value of 0.001 for the experimental group. Conclusion: Reflexology has a significant effect on reducing anxiety levels among students at the Madinatul Qur'an Islamic Boarding School in Bogor and has the potential to serve as a safe, easy-to-administer, and cost-effective complementary therapy to support the students’ mental health.