MSC Technique to evaluate Maternal Health Promotion _Indonesia  

Maternal health promotion is a defined activity in the community integrated posts (Posyandu) in Indonesia.
However, it is often neglected due to limited knowledge and skills of the community health workers (kader). We
conducted health promotion training for the kader and village midwives in four villages in Cianjur district. This
study describes the use of “most significant change” (MSC) technique to evaluate impact of health promotion to
the beneficiaries and community at large. The MSC uses stories as raw data. Through interviews focused on
perception of change, stories were collected from four pregnant women, eight kader and three village midwives.
A Panel consisting of policy and programme managers and implementers read all the stories. The story by a
pregnant woman who routinely attended Posyandu was selected as the story with most significant change. Her
story highlighted changes in kader’s knowledge and communication of health messages and attitude towards
pregnant women. She expressed these changes impacted community awareness about health and to seek help
from kader.The MSC technique enabled stakeholders to view raw data and evaluate the impact of health promotion
from the beneficiary’s perspective. At the same time, recipients of health promotion contributed to the
decision process of evaluation through their stories. The different perspectives on the MSC reflected individual’s
objectives of the health promotion. The application of this technique is limited in maternal health promotion
programme in Indonesia, and none have been published in peer reviewed journals.