Assessment of disordered eating attitude and associated factors among female undergraduate students at Arba Minch University, Southern Ethiopia 2023

Abstract Introduction eating disorders significantly damage physical health and disturb psychosocial operation. The global burden of anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa among young females was estimated to account 1.9 million disability–adjusted life years. Even though earlier identification of disordered eating attitude is important to prevent more sever forms of eating disorder, there is scarce evidence at university students in Ethiopia. Therefore, conducting this study has paramount importance in recognition of these unfavourable attitudes and to take remedial action accordingly. Objective To assess disordered eating attitude and associated factors among Arba Minch university female students, Arba Minch, Southern Ethiopia, 2023 Methods an institution based cross-sectional study was employed at Arba Minch University from January 1/2023 to April1/ 2023. A total of 600 study participants were included in the study. A simple random sampling technique was used to select participants. The data were collected using self-administered questionnaire, entered using Epi-Info software and exported to SPSS version 20 for analysis. A multivariable binary logistic regression analysis was used to identify factors associated with eating disorder and variables with p-value < 0.05 were considered as statistically significant. Model fitness was checked using Hosmer and Lemeshow Goodness of fit test. The strength of association between the outcome variable and independent variables was measured by using adjusted odds ratio with the corresponding 95% confidence interval. Result The result of this study shows that the prevalence of disordered eating attitude among undergraduate female students of Arba Minch University is 11.5% (95% CI: 9.0-14.3). Specialization or department (AOR = 2.27, 95% CI; 1.06–4.86) and Body mass index (AOR = 5.83, 95% CI; 2.34–14.52) were found to be predictors for disordered eating attitude. Conclusion and recommendation the prevalence shouldn’t be under estimated and it’s possible to say many female students in Arba Minch University are susceptible for eating disorder. Body mass index and academic specialization or department were significantly associated with disordered eating attitude and can be considered as predictors of disordered eating attitude.