Designing Graphic Literature Bibliotherapy as a Javanese Culture-Based Medium for Emotional Relaxation

Abstract

This study designs and evaluates graphic literature-based bibliotherapy as a visual design medium to support emotional relaxation in individuals with borderline personality tendencies. The study integrates illustrations, typography, narrative layouts, and local oral literature elements into a therapeutic communication system. The Design Thinking method with a mixed-method approach was employed to develop and test the prototype, utilizing qualitative data (interviews, observations, and thematic analysis) as well as quantitative data measured through the IERQ-4S instrument. The bibliotherapy visuals integrate the character of Bima Suci, tembang macapat (traditional poetry), adages (pepatah), proverbs (paribasan), and gending gamelan (traditional music) as multimodal reflective elements. Evaluation through expert validation demonstrates the conceptual and cultural feasibility of the visual structure and graphic narrative. Meanwhile, user trials indicate early signs of potential support for emotion regulation in some respondents, with a general trend showing a 26% decrease in IERQ-4S scores, although the dynamics of these score changes remained inconsistent among all subjects.