<![CDATA[Self-acceptance is one of the important psychological aspects that supports students in adapting to academic and social life. Students who study outside their hometown often experience difficulties in adapting to a new environment, resulting in negative thoughts, low self-confidence, and poor self-acceptance. This study aimed to determine the effectiveness of group counseling using the cognitive restructuring technique in improving the self-acceptance of out-of-town students in the Guidance and Counseling Study Program at Universitas PGRI Madiun. This research employed a quantitative approach with a pre-experimental one-group pretest-posttest design. The participants consisted of eight out-of-town students selected through purposive sampling based on low and moderate self-acceptance levels. The instrument used was a self-acceptance scale developed from Hurlock's theory. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and the Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test. The results revealed that the average self-acceptance score increased from 60.75 on the pretest to 81.50 on the posttest. The Wilcoxon test produced an Asymp. Sig. (2-tailed) value of 0.012 (<0.05), indicating a significant improvement after the intervention. These findings demonstrate that group counseling with the cognitive restructuring technique is effective in improving self-acceptance among out-of-town students. Therefore, this counseling approach can be used as an alternative guidance and counseling service to help students develop more positive and adaptive self-acceptance]]>
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