Assessment of Health Care Providers Attitude and Associated Factors to Wards Safe Abortion at Public Hospitals, in Mekelle City, Tigray, Ethiopia; A Cross Sectional Study
Background: Unwanted pregnancies and unsafe abortions are serious public health problems in the developing world, including Ethiopia. Until recently, safe abortion services were not available in Ethiopia, and little is known about the health providers’ attitude who is currently working in the abortion service provision. Assessing health care providers’ attitude and factors affecting their attitude towards safe abortion will help to focus on their solutions and facilitate of future safe abortion services. Objective: Was To assess health providers’ attitude and associated factors towards safe abortion service at Public Hospitals in Mekelle City, Tigray, Ethiopia. Methods: Institution based cross sectional study design was conducted using a quantitative method in Public hospitals, at Mekelle City, Tigray, Ethiopia. A self administered questionnnaire was used to collect the data. Pre-test was done for assuring Data quality. Data collectors were 5 nurses. The study population included: health officers, nurses, midwives, general practitioners, Obstetrician and Gynecologists. A probability proportional to size allocation was done. Systematic random sampling was employed to select the intended study subjects. Sample size was 243. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis was run to interpret and identify factors associated with attitude. OR, 95% confidence interval and p- value was calculated. Data entry, cleaning and analyzing was done by using SPSS version16 statistical software. Result: A total of 230 health providers’ had participated with a response rate of 94%. The odds of favorable attitude among the respondents who had good knowledge on abortion were 6.87 times the odds of the respondents who had poor knowledge on abortion [AOR=6.87, 95% CI (1.2, 39.90]. Similarly the odds of favorable attitude among the respondents who didn’t agree on the current Ethiopian law on abortion due to religious reason were 92% lower than the odds of the respondent
