Persepsi Sosial Tentang Stunting Di Kabupaten Tangerang

Abstract

Stunting is an indicator of chronic malnutrition in the first 1000 days of a child"s life. This threatens the quality of human resources of Indonesia. The local communities generally interpret stunting as "short" and use different terms such as "kerdil", "cebol", "kuntet", and "kuntring". Having short posture is frequently perceived as heredity rather than as malnutrition. Inadequate meanings derived from social perception process may lead mothers to ignore such behavior that will increase risks of stunting and undermine community participation in government-led programme to reduce stunting. This qualitative study aims to describe facts on how community preceived stunted children. Data were obtained through field observation and in-depth interviews with four mothers having under-five-aged children in Tangerang. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the collected data. This study revealed that stunting is not being associated with health or nutrition issues. In fact, participants perceive stunted children as smart children. Holding on to such perception may jeopardize optimal community participation in government"s efforts to reduce stunting prevalences. Design of appropriate activities may need to consider social perception held by local communities where the intervention will be implemented. ABSTRAKStunting adalah indikator kekurangan gizi kronis dalam periode 1000 hari pertama kehidupan seseorang. Hal ini mengancam kualitas sumber daya manusia Indonesia. Masyarakat setempat pada umumnya memaknai stunting sebatas "berbadan pendek" dengan menggunakan istilah yang berbeda, misalnya "kerdil", "cebol", "kuntet", dan ""kuntring"" sebagai akibat dari faktor keturunan. Perspektif persepsi sosial penting dalam pemaknaan tersebut, karena berpotensi mengabaikan perilaku berisiko anak stunting oleh para ibu dan menghambat partisipasi masyarakat dalam program pemerintah menurunkan kejadian stunting. Penelitian kualitatif ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui bagaimana masyarakat memaknai balita berbadan pendek. Data diperoleh melalui observasi dan wawancara mendalam dengan empat orang ibu yang memiliki anak balita di kabupaten Tangerang. Data diolah dengan analisis tematik. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan balita pendek tidak dikaitkan dengan masalah kesehatan maupun gizi, bahkan responden memandang anak ""kuntring"" sebagai anak yang pintar. Persepsi demikian dapat berdampak pada keterlibatan masyarakat yang tidak optimal dalam upaya pemerintah mengurangi kejadian stunting. Perencanaan intervensi pencegahan yang tepat perlu mempertimbangkan persepsi sosial yang berlaku dalam masyarakat.

A Qualitative Study on Secondary School Teacher’s Perceptions of Stunting in Majene District, West Sulawesi Province

“…Stunted children are perceived as heredity caused. 24 Study in Tanzania also showed the same thing that the community (child caretakers) considered stunting as hereditary or God-given that could not be changed. But there were also people who stated that short stature was an indicator of stunting, but most of the participants (community and public health workers) said that it was unreliable, because there were many other signs of stunted children such as small face, wrinkled skin, dull or copper/brown hair, thinness, shortness, ability to crawl/stand/walk delayed, low IQ, and often get sick.…”

“…This is in accordance with the results of a study by Liem et al (2019) on mothers of toddlers who have stunted children, who perceive that stunting is a child who is shorter than other children of the same age. 24 Few participants perceived that stunting is an imbalance of body weight with the child's age. This was not appropriated definition in which WHO (2018) defines stunting as a potential disorder of children's growth, where height according to age is low, indicating by Z-score below -2 standard deviations.…”

Penyebab Anak Stunting: Perspektif Ibu

“…Persepsi ini menunjukkan pemahaman bahwa stunting disebabkan oleh faktor yang dibawa dari lahir, dan tidak bisa diubah. Fakta kesenjangan pemahaman ini memerlukan intervensi dari berbagai pihak agar dapat meluruskan persepsi masyarakat (Liem, et al, 2019).…”

KONTEKS SOSIAL-KEPERCAYAAN & WARISAN KELEMBAGAAN: FAKTOR BERKEMBANGNYA STUNTING DI TINGKAT LOKAL

“…Masyarakat Kabupaten Tangerang bahkan menganggap bahwa anak kuntring (istilah setempat untuk stunting) adalah anak yang pintar. Kesalahan persepsi masyarakat ini dapat mempengaruhi partisipasi masyarakat dalam upaya pemerintah untuk mengurangi kasus stunting (Liem, Panggabean, and Farady 2019).…”

“…Sayangnya usaha ini dimulai setelah adanya desakan dari pemerintah pusat dan maraknya stunting diperbincangkan di kalangan masyarakat. Penelitian di Kabupaten Tangerang menunjukkan hasil bahwa masyarakat memiliki persepsi bahwa anak stunting adalah anak pintar (Liem et al 2019). Hal ini dikarenakan perbedaan definisi pintar.…”