Parental Knowledge Influenced the Effectiveness of Therapeutic Sociodramatic Play on Diarrheal Preventive Behavior in School-Age Children

ABSTRACT

Healthy and clean living behaviors among school-aged children are still relatively low in Indonesia, exposing them to the risk of experiencing health problems in the future, such as diarrhea. This school-age period is actually the earliest phase in which children can develop healthy behaviors, hence making this phase a strategic target for health improvements. School-aged children are in a period of concrete operational development and they require specific health education methods that can reflect real and interactive experiences. The aim of the study was to determine the most influential factors to effectiveness therapeutic sociodramatic play on diarrheal preventive behaviors among school-aged children (6–12 years). The study design was quasi-experimental with pre- and post-tests, involving 102 school-age children who were divided into an intervention group and control group. Multistage random sampling was used to determine the research area and school where the research was conducted, while the research subject was selected using simple random sampling. The results showed that parental knowledge had a significant effect on therapeutic sociodramatic play improving students’ knowledge (p = 0.001), attitudes (p = 0.004), and diarrheal prevention skills (p = 0.003). Therapeutic sociodramatic play will be more effective when followed by good parental knowledge. The study recommends that therapeutic sociodramatic play could be applied in an effort to enhance healthy and clean living behaviors and to prevent diarrhea among school-aged children, and it could be integrated into school nursing services.

KEYWORDS:

• Diarrheal prevention behavior
• parental knowledge
• school-aged children
• therapeutic sociodramatic play

Acknowledgments

Acknowledgments are given to all parties who supported this research, especially the Directorate of Research and Community Service (DRPM) UI, who has supported the research funding, and the students of SD Negeri 3 Karanglesem and SD Negeri 4 Teluk South Purwokerto, who were willing to be research respondents.

Disclosure Statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the article.

Additional information

Funding

The researchers would like to thank the University of Indonesia, which provided funding for the research process and publication (the Directorate of Research and Community Engagement, Universitas Indonesia: 1857/UN2.R3.1/HKP.05.00/2018).