Indonesian Community Empowerment Journal

Multimodal Interactive Pedagogy for Early Caries Detection: A Short-Term Assessment of Health Literacy in Transitional Dentition

Rahmi Khairani Aulia — 2026-03-13

Dental caries is a pervasive non-communicable disease, affecting approximately 80% of children in Indonesia. Children in the transitional dentition phase (aged 7–8 years) frequently lack awareness regarding oral health. Traditional educational models often fail to instill long-term behavioral changes. This study aims to evaluate the short-term impact of an interactive multimodal educational intervention grounded in the Health Belief Model on the early caries detection knowledge of 7-8-year-old schoolchildren in an urban middle-income setting. A quantitative pre-experimental, one-group pre-test and post-test design was utilized. A convenience sample of 57 grade 2 students from SD IT Cendikia Andalas participated. The intervention deployed tactile dental models, posters, and animated videos. The curriculum detailed anatomical function, caries etiology, early visual detection, and preventive strategies. Knowledge was measured using a validated 5-item questionnaire focusing on pathophysiology and visual cueing. Descriptive statistics included Medians and Interquartile Ranges (IQR). Hypothesis testing utilized the Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test. The cohort demonstrated a statistically significant short-term increase in knowledge. The pre-test Median score was 4.0 (IQR: 3.0–4.0), which increased post-intervention to a Median of 5.0 (IQR: 4.0–5.0) (p < 0.001). Both female (p < 0.001) and male (p < 0.001) subgroups showed significant improvements. Identification of white spot lesions improved from 35.1% to 87.7%. In conclusion, multimodal education is associated with a significant short-term increase in early caries detection knowledge among young schoolchildren. Integrating such interactive modules into longitudinal curricula alongside parental involvement is recommended for sustained public health impact.

Community-Based Male Engagement for Maternal Health: The SAPA SUAMI Initiative in Central Kalimantan

Putri Oktariani Valentina — 2026-05-04

Husband involvement in maternal health remains a critical challenge in low- and middle-income countries, contributing to suboptimal antenatal care utilization. This study evaluated the effectiveness of the SAPA SUAMI (Sayangi dan Pahami Suami — Love and understand the role of husbands) community empowerment program in enhancing husband knowledge and support for reproductive health service access among pregnant women in Palangka Raya City, Central Kalimantan, Indonesia, aligning with Sustainable Development Goal 3 (Good Health and Well-Being) and SDG 5 (Gender Equality). A pre-experimental study with one-group pre-test and post-test design involved 20 couples (pregnant women and their husbands) at UPTD Puskesmas Panarung on 17 February 2026. The intervention comprised structured health education, interactive group discussion, and educational leaflet distribution focusing on the husband's role in antenatal care support. Knowledge was assessed using a 10-item questionnaire. Mean knowledge scores improved significantly from 8.70 (standard deviation 1.63) to 9.85 (standard deviation 0.37) post-intervention, representing an 11.5% increase (Wilcoxon signed-rank test: Z = -2.449, p = 0.014; effect size r = 0.55). The proportion of participants achieving maximum scores increased from 70.0% to 85.0%, while participants scoring below 8 decreased from 20.0% to 0.0%. In conclusion, these preliminary findings suggest that the SAPA SUAMI program effectively enhanced husband awareness regarding their supportive role in maternal health care, contributing to community empowerment for improved antenatal care access and advancing SDG 3 and SDG 5 targets in a primary health care setting. Multi-site replication with behavioral outcomes and delayed follow-up is recommended.

Community Pharmacy as a Health Empowerment Hub: An X-Banner Education Programme to Strengthen Knowledge and Awareness of Acute Respiratory Infections among Pharmacy Customers in Kalibagor District

Alvin Ulinnuha — 2026-05-19

Acute respiratory infection (ARI) remains a major public-health burden in Indonesia, with the 2023 Indonesian Health Survey reporting a national prevalence of 34.2% and Central Java Province contributing approximately 13.0% of national cases. Community-empowerment programmes that strengthen health literacy at trusted primary contact points such as community pharmacies are aligned with sustainable development goal (SDG) 3 on good health and well-being and with Goals 4, 10, and 17. We designed and evaluated an X-banner-based community-empowerment programme co-created with pharmacy staff and five community representatives at Hazkia Pharmacy, Kalibagor District, Banyumas Regency, in January 2026. We enrolled 100 customers using random sampling from a sequential customer list (Slovin formula). The empowerment medium was a 160 × 60 cm X-banner displaying ARI causes, transmission, symptoms, prevention, and clean and healthy living behaviour (PHBS); customers were exposed passively during routine waiting time of 8–22 minutes. A validated and reliable knowledge-and-awareness questionnaire (piloted in 30 separate respondents; Cronbach's α = 0.84 knowledge, 0.81 awareness) measured outcomes immediately before and after exposure. Wilcoxon signed-rank tests analysed paired changes after non-normality (p = 0.000) and non-homogeneity (p = 0.000) were confirmed. The good-knowledge proportion rose from 27.0% to 99.0% and good-awareness from 29.0% to 100.0%; both improvements were statistically significant (Wilcoxon p < 0.001; rank-biserial r ≈ 0.99). The programme advances SDG 3.3, 3.D, 4.7, 10.3, and 17.17 indicators, embeds a low-cost sustainability action, and offers a replicable model for community-pharmacy-anchored empowerment in Central Java Province.