ABSTRACT

Background: Stunting is one of the nutritional problems that need more attention. The incidence of stunting in Indonesia reached 30.8% in 2018 and East Java is in the seventh position for the highest number of stunting children under five. Stunting can be caused by a lack of nutrient intake and chronic disease.

Aim: To determine the implementation of peer group support to the level of knowledge of mothers withchildren under five about stunting.

Method: The method used in this research was pre-experimental with one group pre-post test design approach. The number of respondents was 24, respondents were selected through a purposive random sampling method. The analysis used was through the Wilcoxon sign t-test.

Result: The results showed that there was no significant difference in the level of knowledge of mothers under five before and after implementing peer group support (p=0.957). Several componentswere increasing, equal, and even decreasing. The increasing components were related to items regarding types of food and nutritious food groups (n=8), the same components related to the content of nutritional mineral sources (n = 8), and for those that decreased related to the definition, type of food and stunting etiology (n= ).

Conclusion:The application of the peer group support method requires a proper assessment of the respondent group with the appropriate characteristics. The experience of health education obtained by respondents may increase knowledge not maximally using the peer group support approach.

Keywords: Stunting, peer group support, knowledge