BRIDGING THE GAP IN RATIONAL ANTIBIOTIC USE: KNOWLEDGE–BEHAVIOR DYNAMICS AND THE EFFICACY OF BOOKLET-BASED DAGUSIBU EDUCATION IN RURAL INDONESIA

Abstract

Antibiotic resistance is a major public health concern associated with inappropriate antibiotic use, while limited community knowledge may contribute to irrational antibiotic practices. This study aimed to examine community knowledge regarding DAGUSIBU antibiotics and its relationship with antibiotic use behavior in Tempang II Village, North Langowan District as one of rural area in Indonesia, while assessing the contribution of booklet based education to improving knowledge. The study comprised two complementary research approaches. The first used a descriptive cross-sectional design involving 158 respondents selected from an adult population through total sampling after inclusion and exclusion criteria were applied, to examine the relationship between knowledge and antibiotic use behavior. The second used a quantitative pre-experimental one-group pretest posttest design involving 34 participants selected through purposive sampling to evaluate the effectiveness of booklet-based DAGUSIBU education. The first study demonstrated a moderate positive relationship between knowledge and antibiotic use behavior (r = 0.463; p < 0.001). The second study showed that low knowledge decreased from 68.6% before the intervention to 11.4% after the intervention, while good knowledge increased to 88.6%, with a significant difference (p < 0.001). These findings highlight the importance of strengthening community knowledge through appropriate education as part of efforts to support rational antibiotic use.