Abstract

Background: Occupational stressors, such as military deployment to peace keeping mission, if coupled with inadequate knowledge, attitude and practice related to hypertension can increase the likelihood of developing hypertension. We sought to determine the level of knowledge, attitudes and practices of Ethiopian Army to African Peace Keeping Mission.

Methods: Institution based cross sectional study was done among systematically selected 420 members of the Ethiopian Defense Force to the African peace keeping mission. Data was collected using structured questionnaire through face to face interview. Level of knowledge, attitude and practice towards hypertension were categorized using Bloom's cut-off points into good (>80%), moderate (60-80%) and poor (<60%), and association was examined using chi-square test and multinomial logistic regression.

Results: The overall knowledge of participants was poor with a mean score of 49.8% (SD ± 16), overall attitude was neutral with score of 65.1% (SD ± 16), and overall practice was fair with score of 60.5% (SD ± 16.9). Level of education was found to positively and significantly influence attitude towards preventive methods as well as preventive lifestyle practice at P<0.001.

Conclusion: The level of knowledge, attitude towards hypertension prevention as well as practice related to hypertension was low and inadequate, and can significantly raise their likelihood of developing hypertension.

Keywords: Ethiopia; Hypertension; Military; Peace keeping mission