Background: Breast cancer is the most prevalent cause of cancer deaths among women especially in developing countries. It is a disease with a poor prognosis unless detected early. Breast self-examination may play a significant role in the prevention of breast cancer among women especially in low and middle-income countries.Objective: This study aims to evaluate breast self-examination practice and associated factors among women of reproductive age in southeast Ethiopia.Methods: A community based cross-sectional study was conducted on 836 women of reproductive age. An interviewer administered questionnaire was used for the quantitative part of the study and supplemented by focus group discussions. A database was created using Epi-info version 3.5.3, and analysed using SPSS version 20. Bivariate and multivariable logistic regressions were done to examine the effect of explanatory variables to the outcome variable. Variables with P value <0.05 during multivariable logistic regressions were considered as significantly associated with the dependent variable.Result: Out of eight hundred thirty-six total participants, only 20.7% had ever heard about breast self-examination practice. Also only 13.2% of the mothers had practiced breast self-examinations. Maternal age, mothers’ level of education, and previous history of breast examination by health professionals were significant factors for breast self-examination practices.Conclusion: This study reported a low prevalence of breast self-examination practice. Therefore, enhancing women’s education and encouraging breast examination by health professionals are essential to increase the proportion of women performing breast self-examination.

Background: Breast cancer is the most prevalent and the second cause of cancer deaths among women worldwide especially in developing country. It is considered as a progressive disease with a poor prognosis if detected late. Therefore, its early detection using breast self-examination plays a significant role in reducing morbidity and mortality related to breast cancer. Objective: This study aims to evaluate breast self-examination practice and associated factors among women reproductive age group in southeast Ethiopia. Methods: A community based cross sectional study was conducted on 836 reproductive age group women. Interviewer administered questionnaire was used for quantitative part of the study and supplemented qualitatively using focus group discussions. Data was interred into Epi-info version 3.5.3, and analysed using SPSS version 20. Bivariate and multivariable logistic regressions were done to examine the effect of explanatory variables to the outcome variable. Variables with P. value <0.05 during multivariable logistic regressions were considered as significantly associated with the dependent variable. Result: Out of eight hundred thirty six total participants, 20.7% of them had ever heard about breast self-examination practice. Also only 13.2% of the mothers had practiced breast self-examination. Maternal age, mother’s level of education, and previous history of breast examination by health professionals were major predictors for breast self-examination practice. Conclusion: This study reported lower prevalence of breast self-examination practice. Therefore, enhancing maternal education and coverage of breast examination by health professionals are essential to raise the odds of breast self- examination practice among women reproductive age group.

Objective The objective of this study was to assess risk perception, community myths, and preventive practice towards COVID-19 among community in Southeast Ethiopia, 2020. Methods Community-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 854 participants selected using a multistage sampling technique. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire adapted from previous literature. Descriptive statistics were done to summarize the variables. A generalized linear model with binary logistic specification was used to identify factors associated with risk perception and practice. Accordingly adjusted odds ratios with 95% confidence intervals were calculated and those with p-value < 0.05 were considered as significant factors associated with risk perception and practice. Cluster analysis using a linear mixed model was performed to identify factors associated with community myth and those with p-value <0.05 were reported as significant factors associated with community myth. Results All 854 respondents gave their answer yielding 100% response rate. Of these 547 (64.1%) were male, 611 (71.5%) were rural residents, 534 (62.5%) got information about COVID-19 from TV/radio, 591 (69.2%) of them live near health facility, 265 (30.8%) have a history of substance use and 100 (11.7%) have a history of chronic illness, and 415 (48.6%) of them have a high-risk perception, 428 (50.1%) have a wrong myth about COVID-19 and 366 (42.9%) have poor practice respectively. Residence, distances from health facility and myths were significantly associated with risk perception. Occupation, knowledge, and practice were significantly associated with community myths. Also level of education, living near health facilities, having good knowledge and wrong myth were significantly associated with the practice of utilizing COVID-19 preventive respectively. Conclusion The study found high-risk perception, high wrong community myth, and relatively low utilization of available practices towards COVID-19 and factors associated with them.

Background:The pandemic of coronavirus disease spreading is impacting mental health globally. Even though the pandemic is challenging for patients, the community, policymakers, as well as health organizations, and teams, the data on COVID-19 and its association with anxiety and coping mechanisms towards infection among community members are currently limited. Thus, the study is intended to assess COVID-19-related levels of anxiety and coping strategies among community members of Bale and East Bale Zones, Southeast Ethiopia. Methods: A community-based survey was carried out among 634 study participants of Bale and East Bale Zones from June 1 to 20, 2020. The level of anxiety was determined by using the 5-item Coronavirus Scale and the coping strategies were determined by using the 15-item Coping and Adaptation Processing Scale. Interviewer-administered questionnaires were used to collect the data. Bi-variable analysis and multiple logistic regression analysis were used to estimate the relationship among the variables. Results: COVID-19-related dysfunctional level of anxiety was found 95 (16.58%). About 290 (50.6%) respondents were copied from anxiety that occurred as a result of COVID-19. Factors significantly associated with the dysfunctional level of anxiety related to COVID-19 were being an urban resident (AOR = 0.44, 95% CI: 0.23, 0.86), those who had no information from TV/radio (AOR=1.76, 95% CI: 1.09, 2.84), and walking a long distance more than 1 hour from the health institution (AOR=0.58, 95% CI: 0.34, 0.97). Conclusion: COVID-19-related dysfunctional levels of anxiety were 16.58% in the study community. Half of the community was coped with COVID-19-related anxiety. Being an urban resident and walking along distances more than 1 hour from the health facility were the factors that decreased the odds of having a dysfunctional anxiety, whereas respondents who had no information from TV/radio increased the odds of having a dysfunctional anxiety. Accordingly, focusing on these identified factors could improve a dysfunctional level of anxiety in the study community.