University social responsibility in community health: a three-arm quasiexperimental evaluation of a nursingled storytelling and digital intervention for human rabies prevention

Rabies remains a preventable but persistent public health problem in peri-urban areas of southern Peru, where exposure to stray dogs continues to pose a risk for human infection. Community awareness and appropriate response to animal bites are essential to prevent human rabies cases. Universities have a social responsibility to contribute to community health through education and outreach. This study will evaluate a nursing-led community intervention designed under a university social responsibility framework. The intervention will use active learning strategies, including face-to-face storytelling and printed educational infographics. One group will additionally receive structured reinforcement messages via WhatsApp for one week. A control group will not receive the intervention during the study period. The study will follow a three-arm quasi-experimental design in peri-urban communities of Arequipa, Peru. Knowledge about human rabies prevention will be measured using a validated structured questionnaire before and after the intervention. The main objective is to determine whether storytelling alone or storytelling combined with digital reinforcement improves knowledge more effectively than no intervention. This research aims to generate evidence on innovative, low-cost educational strategies that can strengthen community-based rabies prevention and support the role of nursing students as agents of university social responsibility in public health.