Development of Innovative Picture Storybooks to Empower Parents and Teachers for Early Childhood Education in Nutrition and Social-Behavior in Jakarta

Abstract

2018). Development of innovative picture storybooks to empower parents and teachers for early childhood education in nutrition and socialbehavior in Jakarta. ASEAN Journal of Community Engagement, 2(2). AbstractIndonesia is experiencing a double burden of malnutrition, especially in young children. Many studies show that community empowerment and nutrition education are effective at reducing the risk of malnutrition when combined with attractive tools and appropriate nutrition and parenting messages. Therefore, we developed innovative picture storybooks as a fun learning tool to equip teachers and parents with a way to improve their understanding and awareness of the quality of early childhood dietary habits and social behavior. The study consisted of three stages, including formative research, book development, and evaluation. Our formative research triangulated information on preferences and key messages on food, nutrition, parenting, and child characteristics through focus group discussions (FGDs), in-depth interviews (IDIs), and observations of school food environments. The FGDs were held for the children (n=6), teachers (n=6), and mothers (n=6). The IDIs explored opinions from a story teller, a nutritionist, a communication expert, a child psychologist, and an illustrator team. Finally, books were developed by the researcher and evaluated by the expert team (n=10) and teachers (n=8). The study took place in early childhood education centers and kindergartens in Central Jakarta's urban areas. Children preferred picture storybooks that represented a unique condition of magical power and provided characters from the fantasy genre. Following the IDI's recommendations and observations, three picture storybook series were developed: healthy snacking, integrated with messages to stimulate a child's disciplined behavior; eating vegetables, especially green ones, with the motivation to increase truthfulness; and a healthy eating portion guide with a variety of foods combined with messages to motivate grateful attitudes. The book content integrated key messages on nutrition, parenting, and social behavior with unique characters and colorful pictures. The expert team recommended the appropriate development of the picture storybooks and emphasized paying attention to clear genres, text structure, content, themes and ideas, language, vocabulary, illustrations and graphic design, and messages delivered. The picture storybooks present key messages on nutrition, parenting, and child behavior using an attractive, colorful and unique appearance. These books can be used to teach early childhood nutrition and parenting intervention by integrating them with other approaches such as story-telling, eating meals together, and other supporting activities.

Print-based storybook in the mother tongue for teaching COVID-19 prevention in the Philippines

“…In this study, the evaluation of the storybook as regards improvement of knowledge and understanding of COVID-19 among Akeanon children confirms the reports of Agustina et al (2018), on the improved understanding and awareness of early childhood dietary habits and social behaviour, and Syeda et al (2021), on helping children understand their feelings and assisting them in taking ownership of their health and hygiene practices.…”

“…Effecting health behaviour change through acceptable instructional material like a storybook was a topic of previous studies (Agustina et al, 2018;Conrad et al, 2020;Edwards et al, 2020;Harrison et al, 2016;Kalembo et al, 2019;Pulimeno et al, 2020). Particularly, the works of Kalembo et al (2019) and Edwards et al (2020) highlighted the significance of using the mother tongue in producing health literacy material.…”

“…Reports have shown that healthcare professionals have used children's stories for therapeutic purposes, precluding harmful behaviours and addictions or dealing with psychosomatic disorders (Pulimeno et al, 2020). It has been used to change health behaviours related to human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) status (Edwards et al, 2020;Kalembo et al, 2019); overweight and disability (Harrison et al, 2016); eating and physical activity behaviours (Bellows et al, 2013); early childhood nutrition and parenting intervention (Agustina et al, 2018); avoidance of contaminated objects (Conrad et al, 2020); mental state references (Farkas et al, 2020); self-awareness (Rahimah & Izzaty, 2018); culturally valued qualities and behaviours related to achievement (Suprawati et al, 2014); formation of identities (Watson et al, 2015); disasters (Damayanti et al, 2020); and even road safety (Ahmad et al, 2018). Hartling et al (2010) identified the challenges in making stories which include keeping the authenticity of the story against being evidence-based, addressing consumers' use of the web as the source of health information and striking a balance between being concise, comprehensive and widely applicable, taking into account story length, reading level, narrative mode, depiction of various demographics and exposures to the disease, illustrations and layout.…”

Applying positive language in mindful parenting: A means of building positive character in children

“…Parents could utilize several media to interact with the children, for instance is a picture storybook. Through this media, key messages on nutrition, parenting, and child behavior using an attractive, colorful and unique appearance are presented (Agustina et al, 2018). With this value, parents can support and directing the children in achieving their visions.…”

The Effectiveness of Disability Picture Storybooks for Children 5-6 Years Old in Inclusive Kindergarten

“…Illustrations in picture story books are an important aspect of understanding stories and creating feelings of joy (Fang, 1996). The use of picture story books in learning is one way that can be done to raise awareness, understanding, appreciation or respect, and mutual respect for others (Golos and Moses, 2013;Agustina et al, 2018). In addition, the use of story books can also facilitate literacy learning in preschool-aged children (Wicks et al, 2020;Murphy et al, 2023).…”