The Effects of Community Empowerment on Preventing Dengue Fever in Lampung Province, Indonesia

Abstract

AIM: The aim of this study was to determine the effects of community empowerment on preventing dengue fever in Lampung Province, Indonesia.
 METHODS: This study used a quasi-experimental design with two groups of pretest-posttest design. The number of samples in this study was 120 people in the intervention group and 120 people in the control group, who is a housewife living in Gading Rejo and Pringsewu subdistrict, Lampung, Indonesia. The sampling technique used a proportional stratified random sampling technique. Community empowerment interventions have been carried out through socialization and inculturation to gather information about community participation, knowledge, attitudes, and behavior of respondents in the prevention of dengue fever. Then, the next stage is the implementation of interventions with capacity building and planting dengue mosquito repellent plants. Data were analyzed using Wilcoxon test using the SPSS version 21.0 software.
 RESULTS: This study showed that there were differences in the median score of knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors between the intervention and control groups (p < 0.05). The results of the analysis based on the entomologist indicators (larvae-free numbers, house index, container index, and Breteau index) found that there were differences in larvae-free numbers, house index, and Breteau index between the intervention and control groups (p < 0.05), while there were no differences in the container index between the intervention and control groups (p > 0.05).
 CONCLUSION: This study confirmed the effects of community empowerment on preventing dengue fever in Lampung Province, Indonesia.