Effectiveness of health communication on improving puberty readines knowledge among Indonesian elementary student: A pre-post study

Puberty readiness is a crucial aspect of child development, yet often overlooked in primary education curricula This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of a health communication intervention in improving elementary students' knowledge about puberty readiness at Muhammadiyah Mantaran Elementary School, Sleman, Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Using a one-group pretest-posttest design, 47 fourth-grade students aged 9-10 years participated in three interactive sessions involving guided discussions, visual media, and real-life simulations addressing physical, emotional, and social changes during puberty. Data were collected using questionnaires administered before and after the intervention and analyzed using paired sample t-tests.The pre-test mean score was 8.11 (N = 47, SD = 1.184, SE = 0.173), which increased to 8.91 (N = 47, SD = 0.929, SE = 0.135) in the post-test assessment. The sample was evenly distributed by gender, with most students having normal nutritional status and being in the early to mid-pubertal stage. The health communication intervention proved highly effective in enhancing puberty readiness in a meaningful and inclusive manner. These findings support the integration of proactive, gender-sensitive, and contextually relevant educational strategies into school-based health programs for early reproductive health promotion.