Effect of Emotional Freedom Technique for Emotional Stability in Adolescent Prisoners

Abstract

Introduction: The prevalence of children in Indonesian prison in 2015 as many as 2,207 children. The impact of detention on children are psychological decline such as anger, anxiety, sadness, fear, disappointment, and other feelings that can cause changes in emotional stability. Therapy Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) is one of the complementary therapies that can be administered to nursing improving emotional stability adolescent prisoners. To determine the effect of emotional stability EFT against child prisoners in LPKA Class II Yogyakarta. Methods: This study design using pra-experimental approach to non equivalent control group design, purposive sampling with a sample of 32 respondents consisting of 16 respondents to the intervention group and 16 respondents to the control group. The research instrument used is Questionnaire Emotional Stability. Test analysis using Independent t test. Results: The results showed that there are differences in average emotional stability between the intervention group and the control group with p = 0.000 (p <0.05). Conclusions: EFT therapy is highly recommended as one of the nursing interventions to increase emotional stability in adolescents.

Full text

Effect of Emotional Freedom Technique for Emotional Stability in Adolescent
Prisoners
Salis Miftahul Khoeriyah*, Dina Putri Utami Lubis, Istichomah
Nursing Programed, Institute of Health Science Yogyakarta, Indonesia
E-mail*:miftakhul.khoery@gmail.com
ABSTRACT
Introduction: The prevalence of children in Indonesian prison in 2015 as many as 2,207
children. The impact of detention on children are psychological decline such as anger, anxiety,
sadness, fear, disappointment, and other feelings that can cause changes in emotional stability.
Therapy Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) is one of the complementary therapies that can
be administered to nursing improving emotional stability adolescent prisoners. To determine
the effect of emotional stability EFT against child prisoners in LPKA Class II Yogyakarta.
Methods: This study design using pra-experimental approach to non equivalent control group
design, purposive sampling with a sample of 32 respondents consisting of 16 respondents to the
intervention group and 16 respondents to the control group. The research instrument used is
Questionnaire Emotional Stability. Test analysis using Independent t test. Results: The results
showed that there are differences in average emotional stability between the intervention group
and the control group with p = 0.000 (p <0.05). Conclusions: EFT therapy is highly
recommended as one of the nursing interventions to increase emotional stability in adolescents.
Key words: Emotional Freedom Technique, emotional stability, juvenile prisoners
INTRODUCTION
Adolescents are a valuable asset of the
nation in realizing the progress of the
country. It is said that because adolescents
are the younger generation of successors of
the nation's ideals that proved able to make
changes (change agent) and solve problems
more creative, simple, and concise
(Subiyakto,2012). The involvement of
adolescents in development is contained in
the Regulation of the Minister of Women's
Empowerment and Child Protection No. 03
of 2011 in Article 1 paragraph 2 which
contains the policy on the participation of
children in development.
Attention to adolescents has been
attempted by the government but crime
rates in adolescents are still high. Teenagers
not only become victims of crime behavior
but adolescents also become perpetrators of
crime. National Center for Juvenile Justice
(NCJJ) 2014says that law enforcement
agencies in the United States are catching
1.3 million adolescents under the age of 18
over the 2012 span. The juvenile majority
arrest was caused by the theft of 224,200
cases. In the arrest, as many as 4 out of 10
(42%) arrests included women, 29% of 15-
year-olds, and 61% of them were white
teenagers (Sickmund, 2014).
In Indonesia, the prevalence of
complaints of child crimes by 2014
according to the Indonesian Child
Protection Commission (KPAI) (2016)
there are 445 case complaints with 67 cases
of child perpetrators of violence, and
increased in 2015 to 79 cases. Based on
data from UNICEF (2015) in 2014 there
were 3,488 children in Indonesian
penitentiary institutions and decreased in
March 2015, to 2,207 children. The decline
is due to the diversion (coaching of the
child).
The cause of teenagers in prisons is
caused by various criminal cases. Based on
Child Trends Data Bank (2015) about
juvenile inmates in the United States said
that about 44 adolescents from 100,000
adolescent population experienced
detention because as perpetrators of rape.
Meanwhile, Cahyaningtyas (2013) in his
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Jurnal INJEC Vol. 3 No. 1 June 2018: 15-21
research in Prison Class II Blitar found the
most dominant crime was rape 41.4%
followed by theft and murder of 20.7% and
the rest evenly with criminal acts of
maltreatment, drugs, and extortion.
Negative emotions from the beginning
should be anticipated or even prevented so
that children do not feel depressed,
resulting in greater psychological impact of
mental development disorders. The
psychological impact of detention on the
convicted child is based on a report from
the American Academy of Pediatrics (2014)
indicating that the prevalence of psychiatric
disorders among adolescents in the
Penitentiary is high at an average of 16.5%
(range: 6.2% -41.3 %). Research conducted
Rahmawati, et.al (2015)
also showed adolescent depression due to
high detention rates. The results showed
that of 46 juvenile inmates, as many as 28
people (60.9%) experienced depression.
Adolescents should be trained early on to
have good emotional stability. Emotional
stability aims to improve the quality of
one's life such as self-acceptance, self-
confidence, achievement and self-concept.
There are various ways to improve
emotional stability with appropriate
emotional management. Many of the
emotional management methods that have
been developed and effective for
controlling emotions on prisoners are one
with Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT).
EFT is one of the complementary forms of
therapy developed by Gary Craig in the
mid-1990s is one variant of one branch a
new science of psychology called Energy
Pshicology, in which the technique
combines psychotherapy and acupuncture
techniques with tapping methods in some
parts of the body to improve the body's
energy systems that affect the state of mind,
emotions and behavior (Zainuddin, 2008).
The effectiveness of EFT has been
demonstrated in research by Shari et al
(2014). The study explains that as many as
30 teenagers who will undergo the
procedure Percutaneous Coronary
Intervention (PCI) suffer from anxiety. Of
the 30 teenagers, 15 adolescents were given
EFT intervention for 15 minutes, while
others were not given any treatment. The
result was a significant difference in the
decrease in the intensity of anxiety after
EFT was administered than not being given
any treatment.
Based on preliminary study in June
2017 at Institution of Special Guidance of
Children Class II Yogyakarta, recorded
number of detainee counted 3 child and
child prisoner as many as 33 child. All child
of male gender. Standard of Child
Protective Capacity exceeds capacity,
because of 3%. When reseacher interviews
with 3 prisoners, everyone said they often
feel sad and suddenly angry with
themselves. They regret for the crimes that
they have doneso it makes them feel afraid
will losing their future.
MATERIAL AND METHODS
This research uses quantitative
research using pra-experimental. The
approach (type) of research used is non
equivalent control group design (control
group and experimental group). This study
was conducted by grouping sample
members in the experimental and control
groups (Notoatmodjo, 2015). The treatment
group in this research is the respondents
with the use of EFT in regulating emotional
stability and as the control group that is the
respondents who do not do any
intervention. Both groups were pre tested
and post tested. Pre Test is done before EFT
is taught and post test is done after taught
EFT. EFT was also administered to the
control group one day later after the post
test. Sampling in this research is done by
purposive sampling technique, that is all of
juvenile inmates in LPKA Class II
Yogyakarta. Characteristics of the study
sample that can be included in the inclusion
and exclusion criteria. The inclusion criteria
of the intervention and control group, by:
Willing to be a research respondent,
Communicative and Co-operative, Full
awareness, and Male sex. The exclusion
criteria include inmates who are mentally
ill, Prisoners receiving other
pharmacological and non-pharmacological
therapies to decrease emotional stability,
16

Effect Of Emotional Freedom Technique ... (Salis, et.all)
intervention group and control group. Next
is the age of the respondent and the
duration of the sentence. Data collection
tool used in emotional stability in this
research is questionnaire.
This research was conducted at
LembagaPembinaanKhususAnak (LPKA)
Class II Yogyakarta. The research has
obtained ethical approval by the chairman
of the ethics committee at the research
institute and community service in The
institute of health science Yogyakarta
No:KE/ STIKESYO /16 /EC. In addition,
this research has also been approved by
KEMENHUMHAM D.I. Yogyakarta.
RESULT
The results of this study provide data
on the characteristics of respondents are:
age and duration, univariate, and
influenceEmotional Freedom Technique
(EFT) on emotional stability, age
relationship and duration of sentence with
emotional stability are presented based on
the results of bivariate analysis.
Based on the analysis results
obtained the average length of the term of
adolescence is 4.72 months, median 4
months (95% CI: 3.82-5.62) with a standard
deviation of 2.495. The length of the lowest
sentence is 1 month and the duration of the
highest sentence is 11 months. It can be
concluded that 95% is believed that the
average duration of juvenile convict
sentence in LPKA Class II Yogyakarta in
July 2017 is between 3.82 months to 5.62
months.
Based on table 2 above, the result
that p value of adolescent age associated
with emotional stability is p = 0,139. This
shows that p> 0,05, so it can be concluded
that there is no relationship between
adolescence with teen emotional stability
score. Furthermore, p value of the duration
of the sentence is related to emotional
stability, with p = 0.861. The conclusion is
that there is no correlation between the
duration of juvenile sentence and the
emotional stability score of juvenile
inmates (p> 0,05).
The result of the research for the
average score of adolescent emotional
stability in LPKA Class II Yogyakarta
before getting EFT therapy is 64,06 with
standard deviation 10,129 while after
adolescence get EFT therapy is 82,13 with
standard deviation 12,010. Based on the
result, there is difference of value of
average score of emotional stability score is
18,7 and statistic test result got p value =
0,000. This means that at alpha 5% with
95% confidence degree there is a
significant difference between the average
of emotional stability in LPKA Class II
Yogyakarta between before and after
getting EFT therapy (p <0,05).
Table 4. explains that the result of the
research for the average emotional stability
score of control group in LPKA Class II
Yogyakarta pre test is 65,00 with standard
deviation 8,702, while post test of control
group is 65,63 with standard deviation
5,898. Based on these results then there is
difference difference of the average value
of emotional stability score is 0.63 and
statistical test results obtained p value =
0.751. This means that at alpha 5% with
95% confidence level there is no significant
difference between the mean of emotional
stability in LPKA Class II Yogyakarta
between before and after getting EFT
therapy (p> 0,05).
Based on table 4.5. the result shows
that the average score of emotional stability
in LPKA Class II Yogyakarta in post test
for intervention group is 82,13 with
standard deviation 9,382, while in control
group is 66,19 with standard deviation
12,010; then there is difference of value of
mean score of emotional stability between
intervention group and control group equal
to 15,94; then the statistical test results
obtained p value = 0.000. It can be
concluded that there is a significant
difference in the average of emotional
stability in LPKA Class II Yogyakarta, so
that there is influence of EFT giving on
emotional stability in juvenile inmates in
LPKA Class II Yogyakarta (p <0,05).
DISCUSSION
The age is middle age (Anjaswarni,
2014). Age is one important indicator in
determining the level of maturity of a person.
Maturity here not only looks
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Jurnal INJEC Vol. 3 No. 1 June 2018: 15-21
score of pre test and post test both
Table 1. Distribution of respondents based on age and duration of adolescence in LPKA
Class II Yogyakarta on July 2017(n=32)
Variabel
Mean
Median
S.D
Minimal-
Maksimal
95% CI
Age
16,03
16
1,177
14–18
15,61-16,46
Duration of adolescence
4,72
4
2,495
1–11
3,82–5,62
Source: Analysis Data Primer (2017)
Table2.Analysis of relation characteristics of adolescent prisoners: age and length of
time in detention with emotional stability in LPKA class II Yogyakarta on
July 2017 (n=32)
Characteristics of Adolescent
R
p value
Age
1,000
0,139
Length of time in detention
1,000
0,861
Source: Analysis Data Primer (2017)
Table 3.Average difference of emotional stability scores of adolescent prisoners in LPKA
class II Yogyakarta before and after EFT therapy on July 2017 (n = 16)
Emotional Stability Scores
Mean
SD
SE
p value
N
Pre Test
64,06
10,129
2,532
0,000
16
Post Test
82,13
12,010
3,003
16
Source: Analysis Data Primer (2017)
Table 4.Differences of emotional stability scores of adolescent at LPKA class II
Yogyakarta in control group on July 2017 (n = 16)
Emotional Stability Scores
Mean
SD
SE
p Value
N
Pre Test
65,00
8,702
2,176
0,751
16
Post Test
65,63
5,898
1,474
16
Source: Analysis Data Primer (2017)
Table 5. Average difference of emotional stability scores of adolescent prisoners in
LPKA class II Yogyakarta between EFT intervention group and control
group on July 2017 (N = 32)
Emotional Stability Scores
Mean
SD
SE
p Value
N
Control
66,19
9,382
2,346
0,000
16
EFT
82,13
12,010
3,003
16
Source: Analysis Data Primer (2017)Based
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Effect Of Emotional Freedom Technique ... (Salis, et.all)
physically but also psychologically. The
older the person's age will be more mature
also thoughts, behavior, and mastery of his
emotions (Hurlock, 2012).
Living in a penitentiary and away from
a known person will make the
psychological condition decline, especially
for adolescents where at that time
adolescents are in transition. According
Sarwono (2015) transition period teenagers
characterized by searching identity and
identity so that the process of socialization
and support of family and peers is needed.
Therefore, the process of socialization
approach is good and directed by prison
officers and peers are needed to
complement each other so that emotional
pressure can be well controlled. Imprisoned
is a life event that can cause stress and even
be at risk of depression (Reeder, Martin &
Grifin, 2007) in Hardiani (2012).
Life inside LPKA that is isolated from
the outside environment, away from loved
ones and known will cause a psychological
shock for a teenager. feelings of sadness,
anxiety, anger and fear of making a juvenile
prisoner vulnerable to mental health,
especially the problem of emotional
stability.
Most teenagers in jail have mental
health problems such as depression, suicide
attempts. This problem is compounded by
adverse conditions experienced during
imprisonment as adolescents have to adapt
to the prison environment. During
detention, adolescents experience isolation,
boredom, intimidation, and stress. negative
length in adolescents (Ng et al., 2011).
Adolescents should be supported by
good moral reasoning (Desmita, 2007),self-
study and socially responsible behavior
(Haviguhurst (1976) in Sobur (2015). that
teenagers who are in LPKA will experience
the same situation, facilities and
treatment.Teens will feel depressed,
independence is limited, away from their
parents, family and closest people so that
the developmental tasks that teenagers
should reach will be hampered.Child
developmental tasks resulting in
unhappiness in adolescents, causing
community rejection, and difficulty in
completing the task of developing the next
stage of age (Havighurst (1961) in Yusuf
(2015).
The difficult conditions experienced by
juvenile inmates cause teenagers to feel
isolated, hollow, anxious, and indecisive.
Feelings of sadness, worry, fear and
disappointment make a prisoner difficult in
maintaining emotional stability. In addition,
activities that are routinely done every day
make teenagers feel bored, they could not
do their hobbies outdoors, and teenagers
also should not hold the phone which
mobile phone is the most favorite item of
adolescent. The emotions of new
adolescents entering LPKA tend to be due
to the inability of adolescents to adapt to
new environments, while long-time
adolescents in LPKA feel anxiety and fear
in the face of their freedom. This causes
most to have the same emotional intensity
on each prisoner even though length of time
in detention is different. This study is in
line with Helm's research (2014) and
Mares (2016) which shows that there is no
correlation between detention length with
mental health in juvenil.
This research method refers to
Zainudin (2008) by uses of Borrowing
Benefits on the subject of research.
Furthermore, research on the effectiveness
of EFT with Borrowing Benefits method
was also done by Church, et al (2012) on 9
students who suffered severe depression
with an average score of 23.44. Treatment
group received four EFT sessions in groups
for a period of 3 consecutive weeks. Each
session lasted 90 minutes. After 3 weeks
then the average depression score decreased
to 6.08. This shows the effect of EFT with
Borowing Benefits method is very strong
against depression depression.
The effect of EFT is also proven by Suh
(2015) by examining the symptoms of
anxiety and anger in adolescents as many as
27 teenagers who have Hwabyung
syndrome (HB) in Korea.Suh identified
their capacity in reducing anxiety, anger,
and emotional.Remeen then taught EFT for
4 weeks with the method of Borrowing
Benefits. The result is that EFT group
experienced a significant decrease on HB
scale with p value <0.05. The results of this
study are also supported by research
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Jurnal INJEC Vol. 3 No. 1 June 2018: 15-21
conducted by Hartini (2014) using EFT
therapy in groups to reduce the degree of
depression in female prisoners Class II A
Class Jl. EFT conducted 5 meetings with
each meeting as many as 5 sessions within
one hour on female narapida. As many as
18 respondents who were given EFT
intervention experienced a decrease of
depression by 60.68%. This shows that EFT
with Borrowing Benefit method has a very
strong effectiveness to overcome emotional
disturbance because of short, cheap and
efficient.
CONCLUSSION
The average age of the respondents was
16.03 years with the highest duration of
4.72 months. There is no relation of
respondent characteristic: age and duration
of sentence with emotional stability of
children with p value> 0,05. There was a
significant mean difference between the
emotional stability score before and after
being given EFT with p value = 0.026.
There was no significant mean difference in
stability score of pre-and post-child
emotions that were not treated with p value
of 0.751. There was a significant mean
difference in emotional stability between
the groups given EFT and the control group
with p = 0,000.
SUGGESTION
EFT therapy can be applied as part of
the nursing care process to improve the
physiological and psychological problems
of children so there is a need for policy
from the head of the child-specific coaching
agency to pursue EFT training for all LPKA
officers.
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