IJERPH, Vol. 15, Pages 2050: Shadow Puppets and Neglected Diseases: Evaluating a Health Promotion Performance in Rural Indonesia

IJERPH, Vol. 15, Pages 2050: Shadow Puppets and Neglected Diseases: Evaluating a Health Promotion Performance in Rural Indonesia International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health doi: 10.3390/ijerph15092050 Authors: Johanna Kurscheid Dan Bendrups Joko Susilo Courtney Williams Salvador Amaral Budi Laksono Donald E. Stewart Darren J. Gray ‘Rama and the Worm’ is a shadow puppet production targeting neglected diseases in Central Java. It is an entertainment-based intervention study to promote health by reducing the impact of parasitic diseases such as soil-transmitted helminths (STH). The study uses traditional Javanese shadow puppetry (wayang kulit) as a vehicle in village communities to disseminate health messages and promote behaviour change to prevent diseases caused, primarily, by inadequate sanitation and poor hygiene. The health education messages contained in the play, although using traditional characters and themes, required the creation of a completely new narrative script, using characters and plot lines familiar to the wayang kulit repertoire, but placing them in new situations that relate specifically to health promotion objectives. The intervention was piloted in a village in Central Java, Indonesia using a pre/post design with both qualitative and quantitative analysis. A total of 96 male and female villagers, aged between 7 and 87 years, provided both baseline and follow up data. Participant knowle...
Source: International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health - Category: Environmental Health Authors: Tags: Article Source Type: research