The Effect of Social Problem-Solving Skills on Reducing Social Anxiety in Medical Students

Entering College is an important transition from adolescence to young adulthood, with significant changes in habits and learning methods. These changes can cause social anxiety, especially in competitive fields of study such as medical education. Similar results were found in interviews with first-year medical students at Hasanuddin University, who faced the pressure of adaptation and learning materials. Therefore, social problem-solving skills are needed so that students do not experience social anxiety. Social problem-solving skills are one form of coping that can help adolescents adapt to a new environment. Social problem-solving skills, as one form of coping strategy, are very important for students in dealing with various daily problems and have the potential to cause stress (daily life stressors of problems), especially in the first year of college. This study aimed to examine the magnitude of the influence of social problem-solving skills training on reducing social anxiety in first-year students at Hasanuddin University, Faculty of Medicine.

This study used a quasi-experimental method with a Pretest-Posttest Control Group Design. The respondents in this study were 250 first-year students at the Faculty of Medicine, Hasanuddin University, Makassar. The sample selection in this study was carried out using a purposive sampling method; the experimental and control groups were selected and then categorized into experimental and control groups with low and medium scores on social problem solving skills and high and medium scores on social anxiety as one of the subject criteria. The instrument used in the research was the social anxiety scale developed by Liebowitz. The statistical test was an independent sample t-test using IBM Statistics SPSS 26 edition.

The results indicated that training in social problem-solving skills influenced the reduction of social anxiety in first-year medical students. The higher the student's social problem-solving skills, the lower the level of social anxiety, with a mean value for the experimental group pretest of 55.4 and posttest of 46.92. However, for the control group, the mean values of pretest and posttest were 34.0 and 36.6, respectively. The SD values of the experimental group pretest and posttest were 14.84 and 14.69, while for the control group; the SD values of pretest and posttest were 17.2 and 17.9, respectively. While the lower the student's social problem-solving skills, the higher the level of social anxiety, with a p-value (sig. (2-tailed) of 0.001 or p<0.001).

Social problem-solving skill training gives a significant impact in reducing anxiety in first-year medical students.