Self-Care Practice and Its Associated Factors Among Podoconiosis Patients in East Gojjam Zone, North West Ethiopia

Habtamu Esubalew,1 Moges Wubie,2 Yilkal Tafere,2 Wodaje Gietaneh,2 Bekalu Endalew,2 Samuel Derbie Habtegiorgis,2 Tsige Gebre,2 Eyerus Tesfaw,2 Hailemariam Abiy,2 Animut Takele Telayneh2 1Debre Elias Woreda Health Office, Amhara, Ethiopia; 2Department of Public Health, College of Health Science, Debre Markos University, Debre Markos, EthiopiaCorrespondence: Animut Takele Telayneh, Debre Markos University, P.O. Box 269, Debre Markos, Ethiopia, Tel +251918215993, Email animuttakele@gmail.comIntroduction: Podoconiosis is endemic non-filarial elephantiasis of the lower legs swelling caused by barefoot exposure to red clay soil. The burden of disability occurs among the poorest populations. Self-care practice is the most cost-effective prevention strategy practiced at home to improve lymphedema, working functionality, and quality of life. Despite this, there is a scarce of knowledge about self-care practices and associated factors among podoconiosis patients in Ethiopia.Objective: To determine self-care practice and its associated factors among podoconiosis patients in East Gojjam zone North West, Ethiopia.Methods: Community-based cross-sectional study design was used among 633 podoconiosis patients. Computer-generated simple random sampling technique was used to recruit participants. All patients who started podoconiosis treatment were the source population. Data were entered using Epidata version 3.1 and exported to SPSS version 25 for cleaning and analysis. Variables with 95% CI corresponding AOR were used to identify statistically significant factors for self-care practice.Results: In this study, the self-care practice of podoconiosis patient was 64%. Females [AOR: 0.38 (95% CI: 0.22, 0.65)], 55– 65 years age [AOR: 0.41 (95% CI: 0.22, 0.74)], above 65 years age [AOR: 0.22 (95% CI: 0.11, 0.450)], 4– 6 km distance from water source [AOR: 0.06 (95% CI: 0.03, 0.12)], above 6 km distance from water source [AOR: 0.03 (95% CI: 0.01, 0.09)], educational level [AOR: 0.05 (