Substance useand associated factor among secondary And preparatory school students in homacho town, Hadiya zone, south ethiopia

Abstract

Background: The use of substances such as khat, alcohol or cigarette among adolescents are a global Phenomenon that can lead to decreased academic performance, increased risk of contracting Human immune virus (HIV) and Sexually transmitted disease (STD.) But studies targeting adolescent students on substance use are relatively scarce in Ethiopia Objective:To assess prevalence and associated factors of substance use among secondary and preparatory school students in Homacho town, Hadiya zone, South Ethiopia. Method: A school based cross-sectional study was conducted from February 1 to 20/2017 among 408 9th to 12th grade secondary and preparatory students in the Town of Homacho. Participants were selected using SRS by lottery method after stratification was made. The data were entered into Epi data version 3.1.Then cleaned and analyzed using SPSS version 20.0. The results of descriptive data were presented using text and tables. Bivariate and multivariable logistic regressions were employed to identify the predictor of substance use. Result: The overall life time prevalence of substance use was 220 (53.9%) among the respondents. The current prevalence of substance use was 181(44.4%) (6.9% cigarette smoking, 20.1%, alcohol drinking and 24.5% khat chewing).sexes of the respondents, substance uses status of the respondent’s father, mother, and friends were significantly associated with substance use status of the respondents. Respondents whose father, mother, and friend use substances (AOR [95% CI] 5.06 [2.580-9.950]), (AOR [95% CI] three [1.359-9.009]), (AOR [95% CI] 2.27 [1.370-3.773]) more likely to use substances respectively. On the other hands, currently living alone, current town residence and having monthly pocket money were also significantly associated with substance use of the respondents. Conclusions:Prevalence of substance use is high in the study population. Family and friends of them are its predictors. Hence, school principals, town education office and health office need to tackle substance uses of the respondents by focusing on the identified factors