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

Abstract

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.