Knowledge, Attitude and Associated Factors towards Safe Abortion among Private College Female Students of Gondar town, northwest Ethiopia: A cross sectional study

Abstract Background: Unwanted pregnancies in youths and complications of induced abortions are an important health problem. Inadequate knowledge, unfavorable attitude towards safe abortion results in unsafe abortion. Most women die because of complications arising from unsafe abortion in developing countries are likely to have had little knowledge. Studies on knowledge, attitude and associated factors towards safe abortion among private college students are limited. Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess knowledge, attitude and associated factors towards safe abortion among private college female students in Gondar town, northwest EthiopiaMethods: An institution based cross-sectional study was conducted from April 30, 2019 to May 30, 2019 among private college students in Gondar town. Data were collected from 633female students using self-administered questionnaires by simple random sampling technique. Bivariable and multivariable logistic regression analysis was performed to identify association of dependent and independent variables using SPSS version 20.Result: A total of 633 respondents participated in this study with the response rate of 97.7%. Regarding the overall knowledge, 433(68.4%) of students had good knowledge towards safe abortion. Age (AOR= 2.81, 95% CI: 1.13, 7.47), residence (AOR=2.33, 95% CI: 1.22, 4.46), family education (AOR=3.29, 95% CI: 1.22, 6.46) and ever heard about safe abortion, (AOR=4.31, 95% CI: 1.79, 10.33) were factors associated with knowledge of students on safe abortion. Regarding attitude, 361 (57%) of students had favorable attitude towards safe abortion. Age (AOR=2.62, 95% CI: 1.70, 4.04) and residents (AOR=1.50, 95% CI: 1.04, 2.17) were factors significantly associated with attitude towards safe abortion.Conclusion: More than half of the participants have good knowledge and attitude towards safe abortion but still significant proportion of students have poor knowledge and unfavorable attitude. Information, Education and Communications programs on youth reproductive health should be provided to address topics on safe abortion for students. Forums and panel discussions on safe abortion need to be undertaken especially, among youths and students who came from rural area.