Objectives Even though perceived stresses during pregnancy adversely affect the mother and her baby, there is still a scarcity of data from developing countries including Ethiopia. Therefore, this study assessed the prevalence of perceived stress and associated factors among pregnant women in Bale zone hospitals, Southeast Ethiopia. Cross-sectional study was conducted from November 2016 to April 2017. A total of 396 pregnant women were successfully interviewed using structured and pre-tested questionnaires. Perceived stress scale was employed to assess the women’s stress status. A systematic random sampling technique was used. Logistic regression was applied to identify factors associated with perceived stress and statistical significance was considered at p-value < 0.05. Results In this study, the prevalence of perceived stress among pregnant women was 11.6% (95% CI 8.30, 14.60). Having 2–5 pregnancies previously (AOR = 9.82; CI 1.08, 89.5) and gestational age less than 12 weeks (AOR = 3.53; CI 1.03, 12.08) were associated with perceived stress among pregnant women. In this study, the prevalence of perceived stress among pregnant women was relatively low. Health care providers should give due attention to the screening of stress in the first trimester to reduce the likelihood of pregnancy-specific stress.

Background Universities are places where students live and study in close contact to each other. Nowadays, the foundations of this particular group have been affected significantly by the rapid spread of the coronavirus disease 2019. The severity of the COVID-19 pandemic has demanded the emergency use of COVID-19 vaccines. However, there is still limited evidence in COVID-19 vaccine acceptability and perceived barriers among some subgroups, including university students. This study aimed to assess vaccine acceptance, associated factors, and perceived barriers among university students, Ethiopia. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted in January 2021 at Debre Berhan University among 423 students. The participants were selected using simple random sampling technique. A semi-structured, pretested, and self-administered questionnaire was used to collect the data. Multivariable logistic-regression model was fitted to identify factors associated with vaccine acceptance. An adjusted odds ratio with 95% confidence interval and its p-value of ≤0.05 was used to declare significant association. Results The proportion of the COVID-19 vaccine acceptance was 69.3% (95% CI: 65, 74). Being knowledgeable (AOR: 2.43, CI: 1.57, 3.77), being a health science student (AOR: 2.25, CI: 1.43, 3.54), and being in a family practicing COVID-19 prevention (AOR: 1.73, CI: 1.06, 2.81) were found to be factors associated with COVID-19 vaccine acceptance. Conclusion Though, this study found a 69.3% acceptance of COVID-19 vaccine, there were noticeable perceived barriers and related factors in vaccine acceptance hesitancy. Thus, health education and communication regarding the vaccine are very crucial to alleviate the identified barriers.

Background: Hyperemesis gravidarum is defined as severe nausea and repeated vomiting during pregnancy that prevents oral intake of food and leads to dehydration, ketonuria and weight loss. Even though the incidence of HG varies in different areas, approximately 0.5%-4.8% of pregnant women develops HG during their pregnancy. Early detection of HG risk factors could reduce maternal and fetal complications, healthcare and societal costs. Studies have investigated risk factors for HG outside Ethiopia, but the studies have reported conflicting results in terms of study design, lack of proper sample size and control group. Therefore, this study identified sociodemographic and clinical risk factors of HG among pregnant women in Bale zone hospitals, Southeast Ethiopia. Methods: Unmatched case-control study was conducted in Bale zone hospitals. A total of 396 pregnant women (132 cases and 264 controls) were successfully interviewed using structured and pre-tested questionnaires. Pregnant women with confirmed diagnosis of HG were considered as cases and women who attended antenatal service were assigned as controls. For each case, two controls were included in the study. Data were entered into Epi-data 3.1 and exported to SPSS version 21 for analysis. Frequency distribution for categorical variables, the mean and standard deviation for continuous variables were computed. Logistic regression analyses were done. A significant association was declared at a p-value less than 0.05. Results: Residing in urban areas (AOR=2.96; 95% CI=1.50-5.86), being in the first trimester (AOR=8.90; 95% CI=7.00-14.76) and the second trimester (AOR=9.08 95% CI=2.95-27.91), having perceived stress illness (AOR=7.31; 95% CI=2.22-24.09), have been employed in either government or private sector (AOR=0.20, 95% CI=0.02-0.52) were associated with HG. Conclusions: Maternal residence, occupation, and perceived stress illness were associated with HG during pregnancy. Healthcare providers should look for psychological stressors at first ANC visit and these stressors need to be minimized through reassurance and provision of extra psychological support during follow up of HG cases. Women also gave due attention for employment before they decided to be pregnant.

Male involvement in antenatal care helps to have safe delivery, especially in developing countries. The problem has been insufficiently studied in Ethiopia. Therefore, this study assessed male attendance and associated factors at their partners' antenatal visits among antenatal care attendees in Bale Zone health facilities. Cross sectional study was conducted from May to June, 2017 among 609 pregnant mothers. Simple random sampling was used to select participants. Interviewer administered questionnaire was used to collect data. Data was entered into Epi-data version 3.1 and analyzed using statistical package for social sciences (SPSS version 21). Variables with p-values <0.05 were considered to declare statistical significance in multivariable logistic regression analysis. Male attendance at their partners' antenatal visits was 41.4%. Having primary level of education (AOR=2.15, CI=1.12, 4.11), age ≥ 35 years (AOR=0.3, CI=0.1, 0.87), being farmer (AOR=0.23, CI=0.11, 0.51), having previous antenatal care visit (AOR=0.49, CI=0.26, 0.92) were factors associated with male partner involvement. Male attendance at their partners' antenatal visits was low. Hence, health providers and other stakeholders shall create awareness and implement strategies to boost male partners' involvement in antenatal care visit.

Introduction: Intimate partner violence is one of the most common psychological, physical, and sexual assaults toward women which suit the entire life of women, and nowadays, the magnitude accelerates due to coronavirus pandemic. Hence, this study was aimed to examine the prevalence of intimate partner violence and predictors during coronavirus among childbearing-age residents in Debre Berhan. Methods: A community-based cross-sectional survey was employed from 1 May to 1 July 2020. Eight items of women abuse screening tool were used to estimate intimate partner violence. Trained data collectors directly interview randomly selected participants. The data were entered using Epi-info V. 7 and analyzed using SPSS V. 23. Descriptive statistics were used to determine the prevalence of intimate partner violence and the frequency distribution of other variables. During bivariate analysis, predictor variables with a p-value less than 0.25 were nominated to further analysis. An adjusted odds ratio with a 95% confidence interval was used and a p-value less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Result: A total of 700 participants were included with a response rate of 95.1%. The prevalence of intimate partner violence in the past single year was 19% with 95% confidence interval = 16.1–21.9. Besides, the prevalence of emotional (19.9%, 95% confidence interval = 16.9–22.8), sexual (10.9%, 95% confidence interval = 8.6–13.2) and physical (9.4%, 95% confidence interval = 7.3–11.6) violence was reported. Women with depressive symptoms, overweight, suicidal ideation, and body image disturbance were significantly associated with intimate partner violence, but not educational status, employment, income, stressful life events, lifetime alcohol use, suicidal attempt, and abortion. Conclusion and recommendation: Nearly one out of five interviewed participants had intimate partner violence. Being overweight, having poor body image, and having depression increase intimate partner violence. Special preventive measures and treatment, and other legal services should be taken to alleviate the predictor variables and intimate partner violence.