Posyandu Application in Indonesia: From Health Informatics Data Quality Bridging Bottom-Up and Top-Down Policy Implementation

Abstract

The community’s mother and child health (MCH) and nutrition problems can be overcome through evidence-based health policy. Posyandu is an implementation of community empowerment in health promotion strategies. The iPosyandu application (app) is one of the health informatics tools, in which data quality should be considered before any Posyandu health interventions are made. This study aims to describe and assess differences in data quality based on the dimensions (completeness, accuracy, and consistency) of the secondary data collected from the app in Purwakarta Regency in 2019–2021. Obstacles and suggestions for improving its implementation were explored. This research applies a mixed-method explanatory approach. Data completeness was identified as the number of reported visits of children under five per year. Data accuracy was analyzed using WHO Z-score anthropometry and implausible Z-score values. Data consistency was measured using Cronbach’s alpha coefficient, followed by qualitative research with focus group discussions, in-depth interviews, and field observation notes. The quantitative study results found that some of the data were of good quality. The qualitative research identified the obstacles experienced using the iPosyandu app, one of them being that there were no regulations governing the use of iPosyandu to bridge the needs of the government, and provided suggestions from the field to improve its implementation.