ObjectivesThis study was conducted to determine the prevalence of hypertension and its associated factors among residents of Hosanna town in Hadiya Zone.ResultsThe overall prevalence of hypertension was 30% among the study participants. Out of the study participants who were identified as being hypertensive, only 24.6% knew their hypertensive status. The odds of being hypertensive is significantly higher among males when compared to females (adjusted odds ratio (AOR) 1.9, confidence interval (CI) 1.14–3.23) and married participants as compared to their unmarried counterparts (AOR 4.1; CI 1.10–16.18). High prevalence and increased risks for hypertension were noted among the study participants in the study area. The experiences of aerobic physical activities were reported only in 22.9% of the study participants. These evidences may suggest the need for urgent interventions.

BackgroundHealth-seeking behavior is a sequence of actions taken to promote health and prevent disease. Governments’ expenditure to health is being improved in Ethiopia. In contrast, high disease burden and low health service utilization is observed. The low health service utilization could be due to low health-seeking behavior of the community. Thus, this studywas aimed to determine the level of health-seeking behavior and associated factors in Hosanna town, Southern Ethiopia.MethodsWe used communitybased cross-sectional study design among community (n= 443) in Hosanna town. The overall health-seeking behavior of study participants was assessed using the mean score of each of the dimensions (health promotion and disease prevention activities) as a cut-off value. Having a score above the mean on each of the target dimensions was equated with having a high level of health seeking behaviour. STATA 12 soft-ware package (Stata Corporation, College Station, Texas, 77845, USA)was used for descriptive and logistic regression analysis.ResultsAbout eighty five percent of (85.4%) participants had low level of health-seeking behavior. Males were about two folds more likely to have low level of health-seeking behavior than females (AOR: 1.8; CI 1.03–3.42). Widowed participants were about five times more likely to have low health-seeking behavior (AOR: 4.8; CI 2.1–17.1) when compared to married participants. Those participants who are illiterate were about five times more likely to have low health-seeking behavior than who completed higher education (AOR: 4.5; CI 1.16–17.8).ConclusionThe study revealed low health-seeking behavior among the study participants in the study area. This finding suggested the need forurgent interventions to the health literacy packages of Ethiopia to enhance the health seeking behavior of the country.

Introduction Neonatal intensive care unit is important to save the lives of a sick neonate; however, parents are challenged by several stressful conditions during their stay. Therefore, this study aimed to explore the lived experiences of parents in neonatal intensive care units in Ethiopia. Methods We used a phenomenological study design. The data were collected using an in-depth interview method from purposively selected parents. In addition, we followed a thematic analysis approach and used Open Code Software Version 4.02 to process the data. Results In this study, 18 parents were interviewed. The researchers have identified six themes. Parents complained of psychological problems like anxiety, stress, worries, hopelessness, and a state of confusion. In addition, anger, crying, sadness, frustration, dissatisfaction, regret, disappointment, feeling bad, self-blaming, nervousness, disturbance, and lack of self-control were major emotional problems raised by the parents. Parents expressed that health care providers showed indiscipline, lack of commitment, and uncooperative behaviour. Likewise, shortage of medicines, money, and limited time to visit their neonates were the other concerns of many parents. At the same time, parents were provided minimal information and limited cooperation from health care providers. Conclusion Parents whose infants admitted to the NICU were suffered from various psychological and emotional problems. Researchers recommend that health care providers should be supported parents with psycho-emotional problems, strengthen parents–healthcare workers' interaction, and scale up neonatal intensive care unit services to the primary health care centres. KEY MESSAGES Parents whose infants admitted to the NICU were suffered from psychological and emotional problems. Poor NICU environment, shortage of equipment, long hospital stay, the presence of pandemic COVID-19, and lack of parental involvement in the care were identified barriers that affected parents' stay.

Background: Neonatal intensive care settings are important to save the lives of sick neonates; however, parents are challenged by many stressful conditions during their stay outside the rooms of intensive care units. Therefore, this study aimed to explore the lived experiences of parents in a neonatal intensive care unit at Felege Hiwot Comprehensive Specialized Hospital, Bahir Dar, Northwest Ethiopia. Methods: In this study, a phenomenological qualitative approach was used to explore parental experience and data were collected using in-depth interviews from purposively selected parents. In addition, a thematic approach was used to analyze the data using Open Code Software Version 4.02. Results: In this study, parents found to developed psychological problems like anxiety, stress, worry, hopelessness and state of confusion. Emotional related conditions were anger, crying, sadness, frustration, dissatisfaction, regret, disappointment, feeling bad, self-blaming, nervousness, disturbance and lack of self-control. Parents expressed that health care providers showed indiscipline, lack of commitment and not cooperative at all. Conclusion: Parents of neonates in the intensive care unit were challenged due to a shortage of money and traveling a long distance. Psychological and emotional factors were identified as major stressors of parents during their stay in the NICU. Hence, providing psycho-emotional supports, strengthening parents–healthcare providers’ interaction, and scale up neonatal intensive care unit service into the primary health care unit are recommended.

Background Marriage dissolution, divorce, or separation from a spouse or common-law partner is a serious public health concern due to its increasing prevalence and devastating health and socio-economic consequences. Evidence suggests an increased risk of marital instability in Ethiopia. In addition, the extent of marital dissolution and other related factors have increased in the study area. Despite these, the prevalence of marital dissolution and the influence of associated factors (main reason for marriage, and parental history of marital dissolution) on marital dissolution has not been assessed in the study area. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of marital dissolution and its associated factors among residents of Hosanna town in southwestern Ethiopia in 2022. Methods We conducted a community-based cross-sectional study among 459 randomly selected Hosanna Township residents. We used structured questionnaires to collect data. Descriptive statistics and logistic regression were performed to describe the data and test-associated factors, respectively. A p-value less than 0.05 was used to define statistical significance. We used STATA 14 and IBM SPSS 25.0 computer packages to process data. Results Out of the 459 potentially eligible individuals, 450 participants properly responded to the questionnaires yielding a response rate of 98.04%. Of these, 218 (52.9%) were female. The commonly reported reason for marriage was to have children 150 (36.9%). The prevalence rate of marital dissolution was 26.0% (95% CI: (21.7%, 30.3%)). The participant's level of education and the primary reasons (motives) why they get married were statistically significantly associated with marital dissolution. The odds of marital dissolution was higher among participants who completed secondary education (AOR = 3.2, 95% CI = 1.26–8.17) compared to those having no formal education. The participants who married for companionship reasons (AOR = 0.31, 95% CI = 0.11–0.83) had significantly lower odds of marriage dissolution compared with those who married for financial security. Conclusions In this study, the prevalence of marital dissolution was high. The participant’s level of education and the primary reasons (motives) why they getting married were significantly associated with marital dissolution. Therefore, an integrated, community-based approach should be developed to prevent marital dissolution.