The Impact of Social Marketing on Health Literacy and Empowerment of Outpatients at the Banda Aceh City Clinic

Abstract

This study aims to analyze the impact of social marketing on health literacy and empowerment of outpatients at Bunda Thamrin Clinic, Banda Aceh. A quantitative approach with an explanatory research design was used to test the causal relationship between social marketing, health literacy, and patient empowerment. The study sample consisted of 390 respondents selected using systematic random sampling. Data analysis was performed using Partial Least Square–Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). The results showed that audience segmentation, behavior change, and continuous monitoring and evaluation had a positive and significant influence on health literacy, each with a p-value <0.05. In contrast, audience focus, competition, and value exchange theory did not have a significant effect (p>0.05). Health literacy was shown to have a very significant effect on patient empowerment with a coefficient of 0.608 (p=0.000), indicating that the higher a person's health literacy, the greater their level of independence and participation in health management. The R-squared values ​​of 0.50 for health literacy and 0.37 for patient empowerment indicate that the model has moderate to weak predictive power. These findings confirm that implementing appropriate social marketing strategies can improve health literacy, which in turn strengthens patient empowerment. Therefore, healthcare institutions need to optimize monitoring, ongoing evaluation, and audience segmentation to strengthen the effectiveness of social marketing-based health interventions.

Keywords:

Continuous Evaluation, Health Literacy, Patient Empowerment, Social Marketing

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