15 The Effectiveness of Health Education in The Waiting Room eJKI Vol. 7, No. 1, April 2019 RESEARCH ARTICLE The Effectiveness of Health Education in The Waiting Room of Pensioners Bank in Improving Elderly Health Perspective, Behavior and Morbidity Aria Kekalih, 1* Idqan Fahmi 2 1 Department of Community Medicine Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Indonesia, Jakarta, Indonesia 2 Graduate Program of Management and Business, Bogor Agricultural University (IPB), Bogor, Indonesia *Corresponding author: aria.kekalih@gmail.com Accepted: 3 April 2019 DOI: 10.23886/ejki.7.10736. Abstract Elderly need intensive exposure to health education to recognize and prevent diseases, like a degenerative and infectious disease. Any chance when elderly gather and spend signifcant time, like 30-60 minutes of waiting time for withdrawing pension money in the bank can be utilized as an opportunity to deliver health education message. This initiated collaboration among pension bank and general practitioners to perform specifc health education program to elderly in their waiting room. This study investigates how health education and consultation program in the pension bank would be useful to change elderly health perspective, behavior, and morbidity. A cross-sectional comparative study was conducted to 438 elderlies in 10 cities of 14 pension bank branches in Indonesia in 2014-2015. We divided them into two groups: health education participants (n=345) and non- participants (n=93) to compare their health perspective, behavior, and morbidity after six months of education exposure. Elderly perspective on healthy lifestyle was elicited using a set of 11 questions that were graded on a Likert scale of 1-5 where one = less important to 5 = most important. We also recalled whether they conducted active lifestyle and had a history of illness in the last three months. Participants group had a signifcant increase in health perspectives, especially about the importance of regular health checking and maintaining a healthy diet (p<0.05). They also had fewer case of chronic illnesses (p=0.01, OR 0.51 IK95% 0.30-0.89). Their active lifestyle was also increased but not signifcant (p=0.164). Health education in the waiting room of pension bank was proven effective to improve health perspective and decrease long term illnesses in the elderly. With standardized education module and cooperation with the trained health educator, this approach of optimizing queuing time in the waiting room of pension bank can be applied to intensify access to health education for elderly. Keywords: health education, elderly, morbidity, health behavior. Efektivitas Edukasi Kesehatan di Ruang Tunggu Bank dalam Meningkatkan Persepsi Kesehatan dan Perilaku serta Menurunkan Morbiditas Lansia Abstrak Lanjut usia (lansia) memerlukan edukasi kesehatan intensif sehingga dapat mengenali serta mencegah penyakit degeneratif dan infeksi. Kesempatan lansia berkumpul dan menghabiskan waktu bersama, seperti menunggu di bank 30-60 menit saat pengambilan uang pensiun dapat digunakan untuk edukasi kesehatan. Hal tersebut menginisiasi kerja sama antara bank dengan perhimpunan dokter umum untuk menerapkan program edukasi kesehatan di ruang tunggu bank. Studi ini meneliti efektivitas edukasi dan konsultasi kesehatan di bank dalam mengubah persepsi kesehatan dan perilaku lansia, serta menurunkan morbiditasnya. Studi potong lintang komparatif dilakukan pada 438 orang lansia di 10 kota di 14 cabang bank di Indonesia tahun 2014-2015. Subyek dibagi dua grup: lansia yang berpartisipasi dalam edukasi kesehatan (n=345) dan tidak berpartisipasi (n=93) untuk membandingkan persepsi, perilaku, dan riwayat penyakit 6 bulan pasca edukasi kesehatan. Persepsi lansia tentang hidup sehat dan aktif dianalisis menggunakan 11 pertanyaan dengan gradasi skala Likert 1-5 dari kurang penting sampai paling penting. Lansia juga ditanyakan mengenai penerapan hidup sehat aktif dan apakah memiliki riwayat penyakit selama 3 bulan terakhir. Kelompok lansia yang berpartisipasi mengalami peningkatan persepsi pentingnya pemeriksaan kesehatan secara teratur dan mengatur pola makan (p<0,05) dan penurunan riwayat penyakit kronik (p=0,01; RO 0,5 IK95% 0,30-0,89). Gaya hidup sehat meningkat namun tidak signifkan (p=0,164). Edukasi lansia di ruang tunggu bank pensiun efektif meningkatkan persepsi kesehatan dan menurunkan morbiditas penyakit kronik. Dengan modul edukasi terstandar dan penyuluh kesehatan yang terlatih, pendekatan optimalisasi waktu menunggu di bank dapat diterapkan sebagai contoh model untuk meningkatkan akses edukasi kesehatan kepada lansia. Kata kunci: penyuluhan kesehatan, lanjut usia, morbiditas, perilaku kesehatan.