scholarly journals Khat Chewing Practice and Associated Factors among Medical Students in Gondar Town, Ethiopia, 2019

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
pp. 117822182199907
Author(s):  
Tsegaye Adane ◽  
Walelegn Worku ◽  
Jember Azanaw ◽  
Lamrot Yohannes

Background: Globally, khat chewing practice becoming an alarming and common among the youth generation, especially in higher educational institutions. It may also lead to frequent misbehavior, poor academic performance, and memory impairment among students. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of khat chewing practice and associated factors among medical students in Gondar town, Ethiopia, 2019. Method: A cross-sectional study was employed on 422 medical students. Data were collected using a self-administered questionnaire and analyzed using SPSS 20 software. Stratified followed by random sampling was employed to select the samples. A multivariable logistic regression model was fitted to identify the predictors. P ⩽ .05 was used to select statistically significant factors. Result: The current prevalence of khat chewing practice among medical students was 21.5%. The odds of khat chewing practice was higher among males (AOR = 3.353; 95%CI [1.460-7.701]), Muslims (AOR = 6.390; 95%CI [1.903-21.460]), fifth and 6 year students (AOR = 3.391; 95%CI [1.354-8.488]), smokers (AOR = 5.081; 95%CI [1.898-13.601]), alcohol users (AOR = 4.872; 95%CI [2.094-11.332]), students who had khat chewer close friends (AOR = 30.645; 95%CI [12.261-76.589]). Conclusion: Since a significant proportion of students were found to be khat chewers, continuous awareness creation on the impact of khat chewing and counseling services are recommended.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tsegaye Adane Birhan ◽  
Walelegn Worku ◽  
Jember Azanaw ◽  
Lamrot Yohannes

Abstract Background: Globally, khat chewing practice becoming an alarming and common among the youth generation especially in higher educational institutions. It may also leads to frequent misbehavior, poor academic performance and memory impairment among students. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of khat chewing and associated factors among medical students in University of Gondar, Northwest Ethiopia, 2019.Method: An institution-based cross-sectional study was employed on 422 medical students. Data were collected using a self-administered questionnaire and analyzed using SPSS 20 software. Stratified followed by random sampling was employed to select the samples. Multivariable logistic regression model was fitted to identify the predictors. P ≤ 0.05 was used to select statistically significant factors.Result: The current prevalence of khat chewing among medical students was 21.5%. The odds of khat chewing was higher among males [AOR=3.353; 95%CI (1.460-7.701)], Muslims [AOR=6.390; 95%CI (1.903-21.460)], fifth and six year students [AOR= 3.391; 95%CI (1.354-8.488)], smokers [AOR=5.081; 95%CI (1.898-13.601)], alcohol users [AOR=4.872; 95%CI (2.094-11.332)], students who had khat chewer close friends [AOR=30.645; 95%CI (12.261-76.589)].Conclusion: Since a significant proportion of students chew khat, continuous awareness creation on the impact of khat chewing and counseling services are recommended.


2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yigizie Yeshaw ◽  
Muluken Fekadie Zerihun

Abstract Objectives Khat is an herbal cultivated plant growing mainly in Eastern Africa and Arabians. Chronic khat chewing leads to the development of liver toxicity, cardiovascular disease, sleeping disorder, psychosis, memory impairment, poor academic performance and variety of social and economic problems affecting the consumers and their families. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the prevalence of khat chewing and associated factors among Jimma university staff. An institution-based cross-sectional study was employed on 354 university staff. A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect the data. The analysis was done using Stata 14. A multivariable logistic regression model was used to identify associated factors of khat chewing among university staff. p ≤ 0.05 was employed to declare statistically significant factors. Results The lifetime prevalence of khat chewing among university staff was 41.0% (95% CI 35.9–46.1%). The odds of khat chewing was higher among males (AOR = 2.66 95%, CI 1.52–4.68), participants who had khat chewer friends (AOR = 2.15 95% CI 1.18–3.93), alcohol users (AOR = 9.02, 95% CI 4.96–16.42) and participants who had khat chewer family member (AOR = 4.03, 95% CI 1.16–13.99). Since a significant proportion of staff chew khat, appropriate measures need to be taken to reduce its prevalence and adverse social and health consequences.


2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (7) ◽  

Background: Since Covid-19 was declared a pandemic and a worldwide lockdown was imposed, it was predicted that there would be an increase in screen usage, especially among students, which could potentially have a lot of negative symptomology associated with it. Objective: The objective of our study was to determine the extent of screen exposure among medical students during lockdown and to study the symptoms that they faced due to it along with their frequency. Methods: In our descriptive cross-sectional study, we distributed the specifically designed questionnaire through online media to the concerned population, in order to gather important data about the physical and mental symptoms experienced by the medical students as a result of excessive screen exposure. Results: Of the 400 participants, 93.75 % reported an increase in screen time during the lockdown. As a consequence of increased screen usage, 207 (51.75%) of the participants reported headache, 267 (66.75%) reported fatigue, 283 (70.75%) reported eye strain, 121 (30.25%) reported dry eyes, 143 (35.75%) reported blurry vision, 154 (38.5%) reported teary eyes, 154 (38.5%) reported ear ache, 247 (61.75%) reported neck and back stiffness and 148 (37%) participants agreed to having experienced fingers and hand fatigue. We also established that increasing screen time was associated with a progressive decrease in physical activity (p=0.11) and increase in food consumption (p=0.002). A significant association was also recorded with weight gain (p=0.03). We found that the students previously diagnosed with a refractive error were more likely to complain of eye strain (p=0.004) and those diagnosed with migraine experienced more screen related headache (p=0.001). Of the 11 symptoms related to mental health in the questionnaire, students with screen usage of less than 4 hours marked a median of 2 symptoms, those with screen time of 4-8 hours marked a median of 4 symptoms and those with a screen usage >8 hours ticked a median of 5 symptoms. Students who had been diagnosed with anxiety or depression in the past checked an average of 5.24 symptoms while those with no such diagnosis had only 3.51 symptoms on average. Conclusion: The results proved a potential impact on the general health of the medical students. A significant increase in weight was observed along with other serious short and long term effects on their physical and mental wellbeing.


2013 ◽  
Vol 2013 ◽  
pp. 1-6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hailay Gebrearegawi Gebremariam ◽  
Melkie Edris Yesuf ◽  
Digsu Negese Koye

Background. Iodine deficiency has serious effects on body growth and mental development. This study assessed availability of adequately iodized salt at household level and associated factors in Gondar town, northwest Ethiopia. Methods. Community based cross-sectional study was carried out among households in Gondar town during August 15–25, 2012. Multistage sampling technique was used. Data were collected using a pretested and structured questionnaire by a face-to-face interview technique. Bivariate and multivariate analyses were performed to check associations and control confounding. Results. A total of 810 participants were participated. The availability of adequately iodized salt (≥15 parts per million) in the study area was 28.9%. Multivariate analysis showed that using packed salt (AOR (95% CI) = 9.75 (5.74, 16.56)), not exposing salt to sunlight (AOR (95% CI) = 7.26 (3.73, 14.11)), shorter storage of salt at household (AOR (95% CI) = 3.604 (1.402, 9.267)) and good knowledge of participants about iodized salt (AOR (95% CI) = 1.94 (1.23, 3.05)) were associated with availability of adequately iodized salt at household level. Conclusions. Availability of adequately iodized salt at household level was very low. Hence, households should be sensitized about importance of iodized salt and its proper handling at the household level.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Birye Dessalegn Mekonnen ◽  
Chalachew Adugna Wubneh

Abstract Background: Unwanted pregnancies in youths and complications of induced abortions are an important health problem. Inadequate knowledge, unfavorable attitude towards safe abortion results in unsafe abortion. Most women die because of complications arising from unsafe abortion in developing countries are likely to have had little knowledge. Studies on knowledge, attitude and associated factors towards safe abortion among private college students are limited. Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess knowledge, attitude and associated factors towards safe abortion among private college female students in Gondar town, northwest EthiopiaMethods: An institution based cross-sectional study was conducted from April 30, 2019 to May 30, 2019 among private college students in Gondar town. Data were collected from 633female students using self-administered questionnaires by simple random sampling technique. Bivariable and multivariable logistic regression analysis was performed to identify association of dependent and independent variables using SPSS version 20.Result: A total of 633 respondents participated in this study with the response rate of 97.7%. Regarding the overall knowledge, 433(68.4%) of students had good knowledge towards safe abortion. Age (AOR= 2.81, 95% CI: 1.13, 7.47), residence (AOR=2.33, 95% CI: 1.22, 4.46), family education (AOR=3.29, 95% CI: 1.22, 6.46) and ever heard about safe abortion, (AOR=4.31, 95% CI: 1.79, 10.33) were factors associated with knowledge of students on safe abortion. Regarding attitude, 361 (57%) of students had favorable attitude towards safe abortion. Age (AOR=2.62, 95% CI: 1.70, 4.04) and residents (AOR=1.50, 95% CI: 1.04, 2.17) were factors significantly associated with attitude towards safe abortion.Conclusion: More than half of the participants have good knowledge and attitude towards safe abortion but still significant proportion of students have poor knowledge and unfavorable attitude. Information, Education and Communications programs on youth reproductive health should be provided to address topics on safe abortion for students. Forums and panel discussions on safe abortion need to be undertaken especially, among youths and students who came from rural area.


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 151-163
Author(s):  
Mohd Shaiful Ehsan Shalihin ◽  
Nuria Syafira Abd Muttalib ◽  
Nur Syahirah Azmi ◽  
Zahra Najwa Mohd Zin

Comprehensive care towards geriatric health can be sustained by having good knowledge and attitude among the providers. Hence, this research aims to measure the knowledge and attitude of the final year medical students towards geriatric health and determine the associated factors. A cross-sectional study was conducted among the students using structured questionnaires of Geriatric-Attitude-Scale and Palmore-Facts-on-Aging-Quiz was used. Data was analysed using Mann Whitney U test, Chi square test and Spearman correlation coefficient analysis for the association between the score and studied variables. Median score of students’ knowledges is at 14.00 (IQR 13.00) and mean score for attitude is 48.52 (+5.53) respectively. Place of residence (P= 0.01) and presence of grandparents (P= 0.04) were the significant factors that affected knowledge of students towards geriatrics while number of siblings (P= 0.05) influenced attitudes of students towards geriatrics. Improvement of current geriatric curriculum should be done with more refined implementation of gerontology course in the basic medical learning.


2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 116-125 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aldrin Musiun ◽  
Khamisah Awang Lukman ◽  
Mohammad Saffree Jeffree ◽  
Fredie Robinson ◽  
Mohd Rohaizat Hassan ◽  
...  

Stress is accepted as the accumulation of unpleasant state of physical, mental and emotion on a person. Medical education has been known as one of the most stressful academic curriculum.  Hence, medical students may subjected to multiple psychological changes and challenges throughout the years of medical education.  The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of stress and its associated factors among medical students. This cross sectional study was conducted from April to May 2018 in medical school in Sabah. It involved 396 medical students through universal sampling.  Self-administered questionnaires were used as an instrument for data collection. The questionnaires included were Sociodemographic Questionnaire, Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scales 21 (DASS-21) and Medical Student Stressors Questionnaire (MSSQ). Bivariate analysis (Chi Square test, Fisher’s Exact Test, Independent T test and Man-Whitney U test) were used to analyse the association. The response rate was 90.2%. The prevalence of stress among medical students were 33.3%.  Significant associated factors include financial support inadequacy (p=0.010) and all categories of medical student stressors. The mean score of the academic related stressors was found to be at 2.117 (±0.758) which was the highest mean score among medical student stressors assessed by MSSQ. The result of this study can be used as a basis for implementation of preventive measures such as provision of comprehensive, integrated and responsive mental health care services in university-based settings.


Author(s):  
Yangchang Zhang ◽  
Yang Xiong ◽  
Jia Dong ◽  
Tingting Guo ◽  
Xiaoman Tang ◽  
...  

Background: This paper investigates the problems regarding caffeinated drinks intake, late chronotype, and increased body mass index (BMI) among medical students at a Chinese university. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in 2018 with 616 medical students from Chongqing Medical University in Chongqing, China, whose information were collected by a self-reported questionnaire that included four sections: Demographic characteristics; Caffeinated drinks intake and physical state; Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire; Depression Anxiety Stress Scale 21. Multiple mediation analyses were conducted to test the impact of late chronotype on increased BMI through caffeinated drinks consumption through two models. Results: The significantly mediated effect of caffeinated drinks consumption was revealed (estimate: −0.01, SE = 0.01, 95% CI [−0.02, −0.01]), and which played a positive role in linking late chronotype (B = −0.01, SE = 0.01, p < 0.001) and increased BMI (B = 1.37, SE = 0.21, p < 0.01), but their significant association did not be found in reversed model. In addition, physical activity and inactivity times demonstrated significant indirect effects in the two models. Conclusions: Interventions should focus on reducing caffeinated drinks intake and sedentary behavior time, enhancing physical activity among medical students.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Seyfe Asrade Atnafie ◽  
Niguse Yigzaw Muluneh ◽  
Kefyalew Ayalew Getahun ◽  
Asegedech Tsegaw Woredekal ◽  
Wubayehu Kahaliw

Individuals with substance use disorder are prone to develop different psychiatric disorders. Substance abuse and associated problems are of current global concern that leads to mental health disorders which contributed about 14% of the global burden of the disease. It has become an epidemic in some parts of the African region with adolescents being the main victims of the ill health and social effects of substance use. This study is aimed at assessing the prevalence of depression, anxiety, and stress and associated factors among khat chewers in the Amhara region, 2019. A community-based cross-sectional study was done from February 14 to April 15, 2019. A purposive sampling technique was used to enroll the subjects. Data was collected using the face-to-face interview technique using the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale 21 (DASS-21) questionnaire. Descriptive statistics and bivariate and multivariate logistic regression were used to summarize the results. p value < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. A total of 478 participants were enrolled in the study with a response rate of 94.1%. The overall prevalence of depression, anxiety, and stress was 27.4%, 40.6%, and 18.8%, respectively. Around 43% of the respondents develop dependency from khat chewing. Working in a private sector, being self-employed, being jobless, spending 90 to 180 minutes and more, chewing 51-100 g and more, and chewing khat more than once per week were positively associated with stress. On the other hand, being a private sector worker, being jobless, completing secondary education, earning 1001-5000 ETB per month, chewing khat more than once per week, being khat dependent, and the presence of chronic illness were positively associated with anxiety. History of chronic illness and being khat dependent were positively associated with depression. The prevalence of depression, anxiety, and stress was high among khat chewers in the Amhara region. Special attention has to be given to khat chewers since khat chewing will double the burden of mental illness. Proper awareness and evaluation activities will reduce the impact of the problem.


2020 ◽  
Vol 34 (4) ◽  
pp. 345-351
Author(s):  
Figen Alp Yilmaz ◽  
Yeter Durgun Ozan

PurposeThe impact of birth beliefs on pregnancy and delivery are universally recognized, but the factors that affect birth beliefs vary across regions depending on individual and cultural characteristics. This study aimed to determine women's birth beliefs and examine their associated factors.Design/methodology/approachThis cross-sectional study was conducted with 548 primiparas in the obstetrics clinic of a university hospital located in the Southeastern Anatolian Region of Turkey from February to June 2019. Descriptive characteristics, form and the Birth Beliefs Scale were used in data collection. To analyze the data, descriptive statistics, T-tests and ANOVA analyses were used.FindingsIt was determined that factors such as age group, income level, any problems during pregnancy and preferred delivery mode statistically affected women's birth beliefs.Originality/valueBased on the findings from this study, healthcare personnel should provide training and consultation services to pregnant women starting from the prenatal period to help ensure a positive labor experience.


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