INNOVATION HEALTHY SNACK PEGAGAN (Centella Asiatica) CAN PREVENT STUNTING IN CHILDREN UNDER 6 YEARS OLD WITH PICKY EATER

Abstract

Background: The incidence of stunting in Indonesia is still high with a prevalence of 21.6% in 2022. Stunting causes adverse effects both short and long term, One of the causes of stunting is picky eaters. Pegagan (Centella asiatica) food processing is one of the efforts to deal with picky eaters. Purpose: Knowing the effect of gotu kola food processing education as an effort to overcome picky eaters on the incidence of stunting. Methodology: This research is a pre-experimental study with one group pretest post-test design. The study was conducted at Mathla'ul Huda Kindergarten, Baleendah District, Bandung Regency, Indonesia in April June 2023 The samples in this study were mothers and toddlers aged 3-6 years totaling 30 people with total sampling techniques. The study was conducted by conducting a pretest, then providing health counseling interventions on gotu kola food processing innovations as an effort to overcome picky eaters against stunting events, then after 4 days a post-test was carried out. The research instrument is a questionnaire. Data analysis was conducted univariately and bivariately with the Spearman Rank test. Research findings: In this study, there were 23.3% of stunted toddlers and 40% of toddlers experienced picky eaters. The results of bivariate analysis obtained a p-value of 0.000 with a coefficient correlation of 0.676 which shows a relationship between picky eater behavior and the incidence of stunting. The average pretest result showed 62.7% while the post-test average showed 82.7%. So that there is an increase in knowledge by 20% in all respondents. The results of the analysis showed a significant difference between the results before and after the intervention with a p-value of 0.000, so there was a relationship between gotu kola-based healthy food innovations in stunting prevention for children aged 3-6 years with picky eaters. Conclusion: Parents are advised to better understand children's eating behavior, especially children with picky eater behavior and are required to provide food intake that suits the needs and age of children so that children will get adequate nutrition. Continuous education related to the use of Pegagan (Centella asiatica) into processed healthy foods to prevent stunting is also recommended to increase public knowledge.