Indonesian Red Crescent Humanitarian Journal
Vol. 4 No. 2 (2025): Indonesian Red Crescent Humanitarian Journal (Article in Progress)

Improving student health literacy through a health book exhibition at Muhammadiyah junior high school in Kendari

Azim, La Ode Liaumin (Unknown)
Hartoyo, Agnes Mersatika (Unknown)



Article Info

Publish Date
28 Jan 2026

Abstract

Health literacy plays an important role in shaping healthy behaviors among adolescents; however, the level of health literacy among junior high school students in Indonesia remains low. Initial assessments at Muhammadiyah Kendari Junior High School indicated that most students (73%) had insufficient knowledge of health information and rarely used health books as learning resources. This study aimed to improve students’ health literacy through a health book exhibition intervention conducted as part of community service activities. The study employed a pre-experimental design using a one-group pretest–posttest approach involving 30 students at SMP Muhammadiyah Kendari. The intervention was implemented through a health book exhibition featuring popular health books, educational visual media, and active reading assistance sessions. Health literacy was measured before and after the intervention using a structured measurement instrument. The results indicated a significant increase in students’ understanding, with the average post-test score increasing by 43.3% compared with the pre-test score. The paired t-test yielded a p-value of 0.000. The findings suggest that health book exhibitions may be effective as a contextual and easily applicable promotive education strategy in school settings. This approach has the potential to serve as a sustainable health literacy intervention model for junior high schools.

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Journal Info

Abbrev

irchum

Publisher

Subject

Humanities Dentistry Health Professions Medicine & Pharmacology Public Health

Description

Indonesian Red Crescent Humanitarian Journal focused to publish high-quality articles dedicated to all aspects of the latest outstanding community service reports, conceptual ideas, studies, theories, related to humanitarian social ...