ASSESSMENT OF SUBSTANCE ABUSE AND ASSOCIATED FACTORS AMONG WOLKITE UNIVERSTIY STUDENTS, WOLKITE ETHIOPIA,2021

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Being a global burden of youths, substances use is unhealthy behavior that exposes youths to health and social problems. Knowledge of the prevalence and predictors of substance use behavior among university students is important for designing periodic and locally appropriate interventions. This study is conducted to assess the prevalence and predicators of substances among Wolkite University students. METHODS: A cross sectional descriptive study was conducted on October 2021 to assess substance abuse among wolkite university students, Ethiopia. In this study a total of 3950 students were participated. The systematic random sampling technique was used to select the sampled participants. The collected data were cleaned and its completeness were checked on daily basis before entering the data to SPSS Version 20 for analysis. Descriptive statistics,chi square analysis and logistic regression analysis were done to examine the association between dependent (substance use behavior) and explanatory variables. Statistical significance level was declared at p-value 0.05. RESULTS: The overall current prevalence of substance abuse among the respondents was169 (45.9%). Specifically, 109 (64.5 %) were khat abusers, 27 (16%) were alcohol abusers, 23 (13.6%) were cigarette abusers ,8 (4.7%) /was abuse marijuana or hashish and 2(1.2%) were cannabis abusers. Being a male ,and having a lot of pocket money were among the top risk factors for substance use behavior of respondents. Poor appetite, headache and psychological distress are thecommonly encountered health and psychological consequences of substance use.sex, religion, department, area of growth and monthly pocket money were found to be significantly associated with substance abuse. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION: Significant numbers of students inwolkite University were consuming substances like khat, alcohol and cigarrete. Most of them usethose substances due to peer pressure and easily availability of the substance around the campus. Therefore, wolkite university should pay attention for recreational facilities, means for the youth to spend their time rather than using the substances and health education should be rendered to the University students about its advantages and disadvantages clearly