The Effect of Public Health Intervention on the Knowledge of the Hazards of Smoking in Students

The national percentage of smoking every day for population>10 years is 23.7%. Most of the students in Kotamobagu were smokers, according to the initial survey were carried out by looking directly at the surroundings of Kotamobagu 1 Public Senior High School. Several students smoked around the school. Based on this, it is necessary to research public health interventions as an effort to prevent the dangers of smoking in students through counselling in increasing knowledge about the dangers of smoking. The research objective was the effect of public health interventions on knowledge about the dangers of smoking in students at Kotamobagu 1 Public Senior High School. The output target in this study is that after this research, it is hoped that the effect of public health interventions on knowledge about the dangers of smoking will be known. The research methodology used was experimental research with a quasi-experimental approach with one group pre-test and post-test. The population in this study were all students in class XI totalling 391. The total sample was 80 students. The statistical test results obtained p-value=0.000, compared with the coefficient alpha (α)=0.05 (0.000)<0.05, thus Ho is rejected and Ha is accepted which can be concluded that the average knowledge before and after the extension is different. It can be stated that counselling affects students' knowledge about the dangers of smoking.