Knowledge, Attitude, Practice and Associated Factors toward Neonatal resuscitation among graduating health science students in Hadiya Zone Southern Ethiopia

Abstract Background Neonatal resuscitation is a set of actions taken at the time of birth to help in the reestablishment of breathing and circulation. In the first four weeks of life, more than 2.4 million newborn babies die globally, its main cause was newborn asphyxia. Poor knowledge and skill of neonatal resuscitation by practitioners has a visible negative effect on neonates. Aim To assess knowledge, attitude, practice and associated factors toward neonatal resuscitation among graduating students of health science college in Hadiya Zone, Southern Ethiopia. Methods Institution-based cross-sectional study design was employed with 213 graduating students from February 27- March 27, 2023, with systematic random sampling method by using structured interviewer administered questionnaire for data collection to select 213 graduating students in Hadiya zone health science colleges. The data were entered into Epi-data version 4.6 and exported to SPSS version 27 for further analysis. Logistic regression model (AOR, 95% CI and p value < 0.05) was fitted to identify the factors affecting knowledge, attitude and practice of neonatal resuscitation. Result The graduating students had 58.2% of good knowledge on neonatal resuscitation, their attitude and practice were 53.1% and 55.9% respectively. Simulation based demonstration teaching was a single factor which has significant effect on the good knowledge and practice of the students in common with [AOR: 0.377, 95%CI: (0.19–0.73)] and [AOR: 0.28, 95%CI: (0.145–0.53)], respectively and educational level on knowledge [AOR: 3.49, 95%CI: (1.24–9.7)] and on the attitude of students towards neonatal resuscitation. Conclusion and Recommendation: The knowledge, attitude and practice of graduating health science students toward neonatal resuscitation were poor, therefore practical demonstration room setup must be well-equipped, adequate simulation-based demonstration and return practice is important to improve the participant’s knowledge, attitude practice toward neonatal resuscitation.