The study is a quasi-experimental design which aims to determine the effect of mass treatment with health education versus mass treatment alone on the re-infestation rate of pediculosis among grades 1 to 6 students in selected elementary schools in Mahayag, ZDS. Mass treatment with health education (experimental group) entails treatment of students and their family member/s, health education, and distribution of pamphlet and individual nit combs. On the other hand, mass treatment alone (control group) entails mass treatment and distribution of individual nit combs. The tool used to assess knowledge was a 13-item knowledge questionnaire, and on practices was a 10-item self-administered practice questionnaire which were adopted from a previous study by Cristobal A. The infestation and re-infestation rate was monitored through nit rating scale which was adopted from Kenai Peninsula Borough School District (KPBSD) Health Services, 2010. Moreover, paired t-test was used to compare the results on pretest and posttests of knowledge significant at p ≤ 0.05. Pretest and posttests on knowledge of experimental group was all statistically significant. Chi-square was used to test the significant difference on practices (p ≤0.05). Furthermore, independent samples t-test was used to compare the knowledge and practices between experimental and control group. Lastly, frequency distribution was used to analyze the results on head checks conducted to monitor the re-infestation rate. Experimental group has lowered its infestation rate from 100% to 16.5% while control group was from 100% to 28.4%. Therefore, mass treatment with health education has lower re-infestation rate than mass treatment alone.

Keyword: Pediculosis