Implementation of the SMart-Punakawan COVID-19: Empowering communities and families against COVID-19

Abstract

The end of the Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic cannot be predicted. In June 2021 and again in February 2022, there have been very significant increases in new cases. The government has tried to control transmission by launching the 5M propaganda, which consists of wearing masks, keeping the distance from each other, washing hands with soap, avoiding crowds, and reducing mobility. However, there are still problems existing related to community compliance in preventing the transmission of COVID-19, for example, low participation in the use of masks and avoiding crowds. The aim of this project is to develop and implement health education media related to 5M and COVID-19 vaccinations. This project started with the development of the education media considering the local cultural wisdom, in order for it to be easily accepted by the community. The term SMart-Punakawan COVID-19 (Sebelas Maret-Pendampingan UNtuk mAsyarakat dan KeluargA melaWAN COVID-19) was chosen to name this media. Punakawan is a puppet character, the "servant" of the knights but who has an important role as an advisor, so it is very suitable to represent health workers. There are several media used to convey the SMart-Punakawan including videos, banners, brochures and these were implemented to the community either face-to-face or online (YouTube, and WhatsApp group) in order to reach the wider community. The effectivity of this project was measured quantitatively using instruments to measure knowledge about 5M and COVID-19 vaccinations before and after implementation. We used the Wilcoxon test because the data were not normally distributed. According to the results, there were significant differences in respondents’ knowledge before and after implementation (p<0.001). The SMart-Punakawan is effective in improving people’s knowledge related to 5M and COVID-19 vaccinations. However, further exploration is still needed to know the full impact of the SMart-Punakawan in changing people’s behavior.