Education on Clean and Healthy Living Behaviour Through Handwashing with Soap Among Elementary School Students of Gua Gajah

Abstract

The Clean and Healthy Living Behaviour (PHBS) program in schools aims to empower elementary students to understand, adopt, and practice healthy behaviours while actively contributing to community health initiatives. This study aimed to examine the effect of health education on students’ knowledge of PHBS at Gue Gajah Elementary School in Darul Imarah District, Aceh Besar, in 2026. A pre-experimental design with a one-group pretest–posttest approach was applied. The study population consisted of 23 fourth-grade students, selected using total sampling. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire and analysed using a paired-samples t-test with a significance level of 0.05. The results showed that before the intervention, most students had low knowledge of PHBS (91.3%), while only 8.7% were in the moderate category. After the health education intervention, all students (100%) demonstrated high levels of knowledge. The mean score increased from 4.43 (pretest) to 7.48 (posttest), with a statistically significant difference (p = 0.00 < 0.05). These findings indicate that health education significantly improves students’ knowledge of clean, healthy living behaviours. The study highlights the importance of continuous health promotion in schools, supported by teachers, parents, and adequate facilities, to ensure the sustainable implementation of PHBS in daily life.