<![CDATA[Final-year students completing their theses are vulnerable to academic burnout, a condition of prolonged stress characterized by emotional exhaustion, cynical attitudes toward tasks, and personal inadequacy. Preliminary studies indicate that this burnout is triggered not only by task load but also by negative automatic thoughts such as fear of failure. This study aims to test the effectiveness of Cognitive Behavior Group Counseling (CBGC) in reducing academic burnout among Guidance and Counseling students at Malang State University. A quantitative approach with a one-group pretest-posttest design was employed. Six students were selected through purposive sampling based on high burnout scores, age 18–25 years, and willingness to participate. The instrument used was the Indonesian version of the School Burnout Inventory (SBI) with item validity ranging from 0.550 to 0.743 and Cronbach's Alpha reliability of 0.771. The CBGC intervention was delivered in six sessions integrating group development stages with cognitive restructuring techniques. Data were analyzed using the Wilcoxon Signed-Rank test. Results showed decreased academic burnout scores in all subjects, with pretest mean 36.50 (high category) decreasing to 22.67 (moderate category) in posttest. The Wilcoxon test yielded Z = -2.232 with p = 0.026 (p < 0.05). Effect size calculation showed r = 0.911 > 0.50, categorized as large effect. The greatest reduction occurred in exhaustion, followed by cynicism and personal inadequacy. Thus, CBGC proved effective in reducing academic burnout among final-semester students.]]>
