This is a pre- and post-interventional study which aims to determine the effect of lecture on the knowledge, attitude and practices regarding pap smear of female elementary school teachers in Diplahan, Zamboanga Sibugay Province. The respondents of this study were selected through convenience sampling, obtaining a total of 103 teachers. The knowledge and attitude of the respondents were assessed through a self-administered questionnaire with 15 items on knowledge and 13 items on attitude. Three post-tests were administered, immediately after the intervention, two weeks after and two months after. The respondents were asked for previous pap smear history during the pre-intervention; the post-intervention assessment of the practices was through the conduct of an actual pap smear. Paired T-test was used to determine the significant difference in the knowledge before and after the intervention, while frequency and percentage were used to analyze the changes in the attitude and practices. The findings showed a significant increase in the knowledge score in post-intervention1 (12.47) as compared to the results of pre-intervention (4.43) with a P-value of 0.000. However, a significant decrease in the mean score was observed in post-intervention2 (11.33) and post-intervention3 (10.75) with a P-value of 0.000 and 0.002 respectively, which means that there was knowledge decay. On the attitude, an increase was seen in the number of respondents with positive attitude when comparing pre-intervention and post-intervention1 results. However, on the attitude that having a check is unpleasant and/or embarrassing, a decrease in the number of respondents with positive attitude was seen in post-intervention3 as compared to that of the pre-intervention. Aside from which, the other attitude items remained to be increased until post-intervention3. Actual practices of the respondents showed a significant increase of 51.46% after the intervention. In conclusion, lecture on pap smear is effective in increasing the knowledge and improving the attitude and practices of female elementary school teachers. However, it is not effective for the long term retention of knowledge. The study therefore recommends to use lecture in other areas and different population to increase the knowledge and improve the attitude and practices on pap smear.

Keyword: pap smear health education health teachings diplahan