Public Relations of UPNVJ – On the second day of the 2024 Research and Community Service Week (Pekanlit) at UPN “Veteran” Jakarta (UPNVJ), a training was held that focused on creating community service media using simple applications and creating monograph books. This training was guided by Hario Megatsari, S.KM., M.Kes., Lecturer from Airlangga University, who shared his knowledge and experience with the participants.
In the session, Hario explained the steps to convert activities that have been carried out in the field into a monograph book. He explained the criteria for a monograph book and the requirements that must be met so that a work can be claimed as a monograph book. Hario emphasized the importance of good and systematic documentation in every community service program, so that the results are not only recorded in national journals but can also be published in books.
Hario shared his personal experience in the "Desa Berdaya" program that he conducted in Malang, East Java. This program is a study of promotive and preventive movements that focus on community empowerment, beyond ordinary programs such as "1 village 1 midwife" or "1 nurse". The results of the activity have been published in journal form, but Hario emphasized that it should also be documented in book form.
One strategy he shared to motivate team members to get the book published is to create the book cover first, even before the program starts. According to Hario, seeing the visualization of the book that will be published can provide a motivational boost for the team to complete their task.
In the process of converting field activities into a book, Hario suggests that from the beginning of the program, the team already has an idea of what will be written. The writing process begins by creating a table of contents and establishing the structure of the book. Chapters 1 to 3, for example, are designed to provide readers with a clear framework for thinking about the field context and the steps that will be taken by village friend workers. These chapters help translate field conditions to readers.
Chapter 4 contains a detailed explanation of what happened in each village, including the identification of village characteristics quantitatively and qualitatively. Methods such as Focus Group Discussions (FGD) and interviews were also used to obtain more in-depth data. Chapters 3 and 5 combine content from previously published publications in journals, enriching the book with scientific research results.
In Chapters 6, 7, and 8, Hario emphasizes the importance of the case studies being relevant to the existing health problems, as well as the solutions offered through a community empowerment approach. This section is considered the core of the book, where the potential of the community and the role of community health workers in solving the problems are described in detail.
The last chapter, Chapter 9, contains a summary and interesting important keywords, raised with a theoretical approach. This chapter aims to provide a strong conclusion and emphasize the main points that can be used as a reference or inspiration for readers in similar community service programs.
The training was very interactive. Workshop participants were given the opportunity to discuss through a question and answer session. Through this activity, it is hoped that it can provide new insights to participants in packaging the results of their community service activities into media with wider reach, either in the form of monograph books or other publications. This is in line with the objectives of the Research and Community Service Week to encourage academics and practitioners to be more active in documenting and disseminating the results of research and community service.