THE EFFECT OF HEALTH EDUCATION ON BEHAVIOR OF COMMUNITY ABOUT CONTENT AND EFFECTS OF PESTICIDES IN FRESH VEGETABLES

Abstract

Health problem that have increased in Indonesia is cancer. One of the causes is food consumed containing carcinogenic substances. Knowledge influences behavior in the selection and processing of food consumed daily. Improper processing causes pesticides or other chemicals contained in vegetables enter the body. Currently there are many people who still do not understand the correct way in processing and cleaning vegetables from the content of pesticides. This study aimed to determine the effect of health education on behavior of community about the content and impact of pesticides on fresh vegetables in the area of ​​Puskesmas Lawang. This research was quasi-experimental study with control group pretest-posttest design. A total of 96 respondents (intervention group: 48 respondents; control group: 48 respondents) were obtained by purposive sampling technique. Data were collected by using questionnaires and interview sheet. The result showed that there was no change in the behaviour of respondents in the control group. The behavior of respondents was mostly in low category both in pretest and posttest. On the other hand, there was an increase in the behavior of respondents in the treatment group. Before health education, there was only 8.3% respondents who had behaviour in good category, and that number increased to 54.2% after health education. Mann Whitney test obtained p value = 0.000. This means that health education by nurse has an effectiveness to improve community behavior about the content and impact of pesticide on fresh vegetables. Health workers are expected to promote health education to the community to improve knowledge related to health of food consumed.