Effect of school community empowerment model towards handwashing implementation among elementary school students in Dayeuhkolot subdistrict

Abstract

Handwashing behavior in Indonesia remains a problem. The cause is associated with a lack of awareness in handwashing with soap. This study aimed to determine the effect of the school community empowerment model on handwashing implementation among elementary school students in Dayeuhkolot Subdistrict, Bandung District. This study used quasi experimental design with pre-test and post-test, and descriptive and inferential analyses. Samples consisted of 24 teachers, 377 students at 4th – 6th grade and 24 school-children from the little doctors program. The approach method in this study used integrated school health efforts (combined model of fit for school and selected school health effort) consisting of six stages. Instruments were knowledge questionnaires, observations and checklist sheets. Handwashing with soap was evaluated for three months. Results found that the score of little doctors in the good category increased in skill of handwashing with soap from 0% to 100%, the skill among the students who were not little doctors improved in good category from 0% to 87.5%. School community empowerment affects handwashing behavior among elementary school students.