Enhancing Gastritis Prevention Knowledge and Attitudes through Health Education among Junior High School Student, Deli Serdang, Indonesia

Abstract

Gastritis is a common health complaint among school-aged adolescents, often associated with unhealthy lifestyle behaviors such as skipping breakfast and staying up late. This community service activity aimed to analyze self-reported gastritis-related complaints and associated behavioral risk factors among Grade VIII-2 students of SMP Negeri 1 Pancur Batu, and to evaluate students’ knowledge before and after a health education intervention. The activity involved 28 students and was conducted through a one-group pretest-posttest design. The situation analysis (self-awareness survey, school discussion using the USG method, fishbone analysis, and MCUA) is described in the Methods section; skipping breakfast, delaying meals, and staying up late were identified as the main contributing factors, and health education was selected as the intervention. Following the intervention, students’ knowledge scores increased from pre-test to post-test (Wilcoxon signed-rank test, Z = -4.152, p = 0.000, effect size r = 0.55). These findings indicate that the health education program was associated with an increase in students’ knowledge regarding gastritis prevention; behavioral change itself was not measured longitudinally in this activity. Furthermore, these results highlight the critical need for schools to integrate continuous nutritional guidance into routine health programs. Sustained collaboration between educators and parents is also essential to ensure long-term lifestyle modifications among students.