Health Promotion Intervention to Improve Public Knowledge on Coronary Heart Disease in Yogyakarta, Indonesia: A Quasi-experimental Study

Objectives A lack of public knowledge about coronary heart disease (CHD) contributes to the elevated incidence of delayed onset symptoms to the first medical contact and major adverse cardiac events. Health promotion intervention should be the first option in order to direct individuals toward adopting healthy behaviors to avert CHD, and improve their knowledge and attitude in handling CHD-related symptoms. Therefore, this study aimed to observe the impact of educational programs on the improvement of public knowledge about CHD in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Methods A quasi-experimental approach was implemented utilizing a questionnaire developed by the researchers, which included pharmacists and cardiologists and was based on the BASNEF model. An hour-long educational program was carried out three times a month by inserting the program into the community's routine agenda. A descriptive analysis, t-test, and multivariate regression were performed to evaluate the influence of the program on participants' knowledge regarding CHD. Results A higher proportion of participants with a smoking environment (79.6%), diabetes mellitus (88.9%), abnormal waist circumference (61.9%) and abnormal 2 h postprandial blood glucose (77%) among 113 were involved in this study. Significant improvement was observed among the overall results of pre-test (75.59±15.29) and post-test (86.05±8.99) with p -value <0.001. Older participants and participants with acute coronary syndrome history (ACS) significantly improved their knowledge of CHD after the health promotion program with p -values of 0.022 and 0.008, respectively. Conclusion These findings suggest that educational interventions could increase participants' knowledge of CHD. Local health officials should implement more health promotion to significantly enhance public knowledge of CHD.