Bibliotherapy Development to Improve Environmental
Mastery: Psychological Well-Being for Blind Students
Ahmad Rifki Hardiansyah
1
, Dina Setyowati
2
, Lesta Nurman Sadari
3
, Tegar Pangestu
4
, Wahyu
Nugroho
5
{ahmadrifkihardiansyah@student.uns.ac.id
1
, dinnasetyowati3@student.uns.ac.id
2
,
lestanurmansadari@student.uns.ac.id
3
}
Universitas Sebelas Maret, Surakarta, Indonesia
Abstract. Visual impairment is a weakness that blind students must overcome.
Additionally, this disability impairs a range of aspects of their daily lives. Notable is their
capacity to shape their environment to satisfy their psychological needs. Blind students
require a high level of environmental mastery to learn and develop in an environment that
promotes their psychological well-being and development. As a result of this research, an
educational tool called Bibliotherapy was developed to aid teachers in increasing students'
environmental awareness. Plomp's three-stage theory serves as the basis for this research
and development. This research has been carried out until the product realization stage, so
that the next stage for the validity and effectiveness of bibliotherapy becomes a
recommendation for further research. This result can also be regarded as an illustration of
how teachers can use Bibliotherapy to increase students' environmental mastery.
Keywords: Blind Students; Bibliotherapy; Environmental Mastery
1 Introduction
Blind students experience significant difficulties when first introduced to a new
environment. This difficulty can undoubtedly interfere with their ability to adapt and present
themselves at their best as a whole person at school. Students who do not have a strong sense of
psychological well-being will find it difficult to engage in meaningful learning activities.
Consequently, to engage in meaningful learning processes, students must understand their
environment. Furthermore, environmental mastery is associated with a person's ability to
perform socially. Often, when children enter an educational environment, they experience social
dysfunction due to the limitations they inherited from their parents [1]. The move from the
family context to the school environment often results in new challenges for students. Due to a
lack of mental preparation before entering an unfamiliar context, blind students often believe
that they have failed in their attempts to build social skills. As a result, they avoid social
interactions, withdraw from their environment, and become indifferent [2]. This is as related to
research which states that the characteristics of low scores on individuals have an impact on the
lack of responsibility, low social skills, and tend to be controlled by the environment [3]–[7].
According to [5], if a person can take advantage of the opportunities provided by their
environment, they will be successful in their journey to adulthood. Individuals with
environmental mastery abilities tend to manage complex activities, manage self-responsibility,
BIC 2021, October 11-12, Batusangkar, Indonesia
Copyright © 2022 EAI
DOI 10.4108/eai.11-10-2021.2319560