KHAT CHEWING AND ITS ASSOCIATED FACTORS AMONG ELEMENTARY SCHOOLEARLY ADOLESCENT STUDENTS, HARAMAYADISTRICT, EASTHARARGHE, ETHIOPIA

Abstract

Background: Khat chewing practices is high inthe Arabian Peninsula and in Eastern Africa region, including Ethiopia. Khatchewing is popular among adolescents in Ethiopia. However, there is no study on practice of Khat chewing among early adolescent of school children in the eastern part of the country, where the majority of khat in the country is produced and exported.Thus, this study was aimed to assess khat chewing practices and its associated factors among early adolescent school children of Haramaya district. Methods: A school- based cross sectional study design wasconducted in Haramaya Districtfrom September 01 to 30, 2023. Atotal of 592early adolescent school children were selected by multi stage sampling techniquewith simple random sampling.Trained data collectors collected data using structured questionnaire. Data were enteredinto EpiData version 4.6. Then exported to the SPSS version 23 statistical package for further data processing and analysis.Descriptive statistical tests, bivariate andmultivariate logistic regression analysis were used to determine predictors of Khat chewing among early adolescents. The level of significance was set at P-value of less than 0.05. Results:The current prevalence of khat chewing was 38.9% (CI: (34.0%-42.1%)).Among the studied variables, being male [AOR=2.47; 95% CI: (1.61-3.86)],Peers pressures [ARO=3.67; 95% CI: 2.45- 5.40)], easily availability of khat [AOR=1.95; 95% (1.01-3.78)],living withkhat chewers[AOR=7.48; 95%CI: (4.60-12.16)] were significantly associated with current khat chewing practice. Conclusion:khat chewing is prevalent among early adolescents in elementary school in the study area. The most noticeable factors significantly associatedwith khat chewing were male gender, peerspressures, living with khat chewers and easily availability of khat. The findingsuggests, the need to have public awareness creation among the community, particularly toadolescents and their parents.