The Influence of Local Educational Media on the Understanding of Tolaki Tribe Mothers about Stunting in Watulondo Subdistrict, Kendari

Stunting is a condition in which children are shorter in height than children of their age. It is caused by chronic malnutrition. This study aims to assess the influence of local educational media on the level of understanding of Tolaki women about stunting through booklet media. This research uses Pre- Experimental Designs approach. The population of this study were 50 indigenous Tolaki mothers who had stunted children or not, lived in Watulondo Village for at least 10-15 years, and understood the Tolaki language fluently. The sample in this study amounted to 35 people obtained by purposive sampling. The results showed that there was an effect of providing local education media on increasing the understanding of Tolaki Tribe mothers based on the characteristics of respondents at the age of 20-35 years (p = 0.000), junior high school education (p = 0.000), high school education (p = 0.000), household work (p = 0.000) = 0.000), and private employment (p = 0.000). Meanwhile, there was no effect of giving booklet media at age >35 years (p=0.039) and elementary school education (p=0.066). The results of the paired t test sample show that there is an influence of local educational media on increasing the understanding of Tolaki women about stunting which includes translation behavior (p=0.000), interpretation (p=0.000), exploration (p=0.000), and understanding (p=0.000) ) after the intervention. Lalombaku posyandu health workers are expected to use local media in the form of booklets as an effort to increase maternal understanding in a sustainable manner. Thus, maternal understanding can last a long time and support the success of health promotion programs.