ABSTRACT
One of the areas that need special attention in mental health status is the coastal community. Several studies state that the problems in coastal communities are more complex than others. This condition bring an impact on mental health that can be affect the quality of life of the community. The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of the mental health alert village establishment against psychological distress of coastal communities in Semarang, Indonesia. This research is a quasy experimental pre-post test with control with random sampling technique with the criteria of citizens aged 17-60 years, not experiencing mental disorders, physically healthy, and no disabilities. The sample of this study was 206 residents divided into two groups, namely the intervention group and the control group. The questionnaire used was K-10 (kestler) to measure the level of community psychological distress. The bivariate test used the Kolmogorov Smirnov test to measure the effect of therapy. The research stages were conducting a pre test to measure the level of psychological distress, then forming a mental health alert village and a set of activities for 7 months and finally a post test. The result of this study were that the mental health alert village had a positive effect on the mental health status of the community through psychological distress indicators.
Keywords: community mental health nursing; psychological distress; coastal community.