Impact of health education on stunting knowledge among mothers with children aged 1-5 years

Background: Stunting remains an unresolved nutritional issue, particularly affecting the first 1,000 days of life, from the fetal stage to 23 months of age. This condition can negatively impact a child's intelligence and overall health. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), stunting becomes a public health concern when its prevalence exceeds 20%. Parents, especially mothers, play a crucial role in ensuring adequate nutrition for their children. Purpose: To find out the effect of health education on stunting knowledge among mothers with children aged 1-5 years. Method: A pre-experimental "one group pretest-posttest" design was employed. The sample consisted of 35 mothers with children aged 1 to 60 months, selected using the non-probability sampling technique through total sampling. Results: Before the health education intervention, 40.0% of mothers had moderate knowledge about stunting. After the intervention, this figure increased to 60.0%, indicating a good level of understanding. A paired simple t-test showed a statistically significant improvement with a p-value of 0.000 (<0.05). Conclusion: Health education has a positive impact on increasing mothers' knowledge about stunting in Sumberwungu village, Tepus sub-district, Gunung Kidul regency. It is recommended that health workers enhance their efforts to educate the community on stunting prevention.