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Abstract

Background. Acute respiratory infection (ARI) remains a major public health problem in Indonesia, with West Java reporting the highest incidence. Poor Health-Related Behavior (HRB) practices are associated with increased ARI risk. The "Little Doctor" program is a government initiative that focuses on school health and aims to promote HRB among students. Along with this goal, this study aimed to determine the effectiveness of the program in improving knowledge of HRB and ARI among elementary school students in Pancawati Village, Karawang Regency.

Methods. This study employs a quasi-experimental one-group pretest-posttest design. Participants were selected based on inclusion criteria referring to the national Little Doctor program. The data obtained were analyzed using the Wilcoxon test.

Results. HRB knowledge increased significantly from 54.8% to 78.8% (p = 0.000) with a moderate N-gain of 0.315.  Knowledge related to ARI also increased significantly from 28.3% to 58.6% (p = 0.000), despite a low N-gain of 0.270. Furthermore, students in the "good" health behavior category increased from 57.8% to 67.8% after the follow-up (p = 0.212).

Conclusions. The Little Doctor training program effectively improves students' knowledge and health-related behaviors. Nevertheless, strong collaboration with schools and families are needed to ensure sustainability.

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