Latar Belakang: Mahasiswa yang memiliki self-esteem tinggi cenderung lebih mampu melakukan penyesuaian diri sehingga memiliki prestasi akademis yang lebih baik. Mereka juga akan lebih mampu mengatasi permasalahan dalam dunia perkuliahan sehingga secara otomatis menurunkan level distres psikologis. Metode: Penelitian dilakukan secara quasi experimental. Delapan mahasiswa Universitas Indonesia berusia antara 18-23 tahun yang memiliki tingkat self-esteem di bawah 29 berdasarkan alat ukur Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale dan memiliki level distres psikologis di atas 1.75 berdasarkan alat ukur HSCL-25 menjadi subyek penelitian. Kepada mereka diberikan intervensi pelatihan peningkatan self-esteem selama dua hari berturut-turut yang terdiri dari 5 sesi utama. Pelatihan dilakukan selama ± 6 jam per harinya. Empat minggu setelah pelatihan hari kedua, dilakukan wawancara dan pengukuran pasca intervensi menggunakan Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale dan HSCL-25. Hasil: Berdasarkan pengukuran sebelum dan sesudah intervensi pelatihan, diketahui bahwa tujuh partisipan mengalami peningkatan self-esteem, satu partisipan mengalami penurunan self-esteem, tujuh partisipan mengalami penurunan level distres psikologis, dan satu partisipan mengalami peningkatan level distres psikologis. Kesimpulan: Penelitian ini membuktikan bahwa intervensi pelatihan dinilai berhasil dalam meningkatkan self-esteem dan menurunkan level distres psikologis mahasiswa Universitas Indonesia. Partisipan juga menyampaikan bahwa mereka memperoleh informasi baru mengenai self-esteem dan keterampilan baru berkomunikasi secara asertif dan berpikir positif.

---

Background: Undergraduate student with high self-esteem level tends to have a good adjustment to college world, therefore they can achieve greater academic performance. They will also have the ability to deal with college problems and automatically decreasing their psychological distress level.

Method: Quasi experimental research was conducted. Eight Universitas Indonesia?s undergraduate students aged 18-23 years who had self-esteem level below 29 as measured by Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale and had psychological distress level above 1.75 as measured by HSCL-25 became the subject of this research. They were involved in self-esteem building training intervention within two days in a row (@ approximately 6 hours), consisted of 5 main sessions. Four weeks after the second day of training, the level of self-esteem and psychological distress were measured using Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale and HSCL-25.

Result: The measurements before and after the training intervention found that seven participants had an increase in self-esteem level, one participant had a decrease in self-esteem level, seven participants had decreased psychological distress level, and one participant had increased psychological distress level.

Conclusion: This study proves that the training intervention is effective in increasing the level of self-esteem and decreasing the level of psychological distress for Universitas Indonesia?s undergraduate students. Participants also commented that they acquired new knowledge regarding selfesteem and new skills to communicate assertively and think positively.