Health promotion and health education: Student’s perceptions of early marriage in Bengkulu City, Indonesia

Background: Students are individuals in a stage of life characterised by a strong desire to explore and understand themselves and the world around them. At this age or stage, their current knowledge enables them to efficiently find what they need. Nevertheless, there is a notable deficiency in the comprehension and implementation of knowledge among teenagers, rendering them highly susceptible to engaging in behaviours that may detrimentally affect their future prospects. Meanwhile, the rapid progress of technology facilitates teenagers' participation in activities without parental supervision. Thus, we necessitate an alternate methodology that provides kids with a thorough comprehension of sexual education, augmenting their information and prompting them to contemplate it prior to indulging in deviant behaviours during adolescence that may result in early marriage. Purpose: To investigate the effectiveness of health promotion and health education on students' perceptions of early marriage. Method: A quantitative study using a quasi-experimental technique with a total of 184 participants was selected for this study using a stratified random sampling method from eight high schools in Bengkulu City. The statistical used a univariate test and paired t-test to assess the influence, and an independent t-test to appraise the effectiveness of alterations according to the school type group. This allowed us to ascertain the appropriateness of this approach for each specific school type. Results: Health education has a significant effect on student opinions of early marriage. The mean value was 11.1, with a 95% confidence interval ranging from 2.1 to 18.2. The p-value was less than 0.000, indicating a highly significant result. Conversely, the group comparison test revealed that health education yielded greater effectiveness in public high schools as opposed to private high schools. Conclusion: Health education can be utilized to alter students' perceptions, so enabling knowledge to serve as a foundation for evaluating the challenges they encounter.