Awareness and Disposal Practices of Medicines among the Community in Hawassa City, Ethiopia

Table 7

The association between the socioeconomic profile of the respondents and their awareness and attitude on the disposal of ELU medicines.

Variable	Frequency (%)	Gender		Age (year)		Family size (number)		Educational^a level		Family income (ETB)
		Male	Female	≤35	>35	≤4	>4	Grade 1–12	College & above	≤5000	>5000
Do you have information on how to dispose of ELU medicines (N = 402)
Well informed/informed	38 (9.5)	14 (36.8)	24 (63.2)	25 (65.8)	13 (34.2)	22 (57.9)	16 (42.1)	9 (23.7)	29 (76.3)	16 (42.1)	22 (57.9)
Neither informed/nor less informed	161 (40.0)	59 (36.6)	102 (63.4)	100 (62.1)	61 (37.9)	90 (55.9)	71 (44.1)	22 (15.4)	121 (84.6)	49 (30.4)	112 (69.6)
Less informed/no information	203 (50.5)	63 (31)	140 (69)	147 (72.4)	56 (2.6)	118 (58.1)	85 (41.9)	56 (30.6)	127 (69.4)	73 (36.3)	130 (63.7)
		χ^2 = 1.43, p = 0.48		χ^2 = 4.42, p = 0.11		χ^2 = 0.19, p = 0.9		χ^2 = 10.22, p = 0.006		χ^2 = 1.88, p = 0.39
Do you agree that the disposal mechanism you follow is appropriate? (N = 402)
Strongly agree/agree	173 (43)	56 (32.4)	117 (67.6)	117 (67.6)	56 (32.4)	89 (51.4)	84 (48.6)	59 (36.9)	101 (63.1)	69 (40.4)	104 (59.6)
Neither agree/nor disagree	43 (10.7)	13 (30.2)	30 (69.8)	32 (74.4)	11 (25.6)	36 (83.7)	7 (16.3)	4 (11.8)	30 (88.2)	16 (37.2)	27 (62.8)
Strictly disagree/disagree	186 (46.3)	67 (36)	119 (64)	123 (66.1)	63 (33.9)	105 (56.5)	81 (43.5)	24 (14.1)	146 (85.9)	53 (29.3)	133 (70.7)
		χ^2 = 0.81, p = 0.66		χ^2 = 1.09, p = 0.57		χ^2 = 14.73, p = 0.01		χ^2 = 26.50, p = 0.001		χ^2 = 4.84, p = 0.08
If the government has arranged a specific location for collecting expired/unused medicines, are you willing to hand over? (N = 402)
Strongly willing/willing	322 (80.1)	108 (33.5)	214 (66.5)	220 (68.3)	102 (31.7)	188 (58.4)	134 (41.6)	75 (25.4)	220 (74.6)	108 (34.2)	214 (65.8)
Neither willing/nor not willing	36 (9)	13 (36.1)	23 (63.9)	21 (58.3)	15 (41.7)	16 (44.4)	20 (55.6)	10 (31.2)	22 (68.8)	19 (52.8)	17 (47.2)
Strictly not willing/not willing	44 (10.9)	15 (34.1)	29 (65.9)	31 (70.5)	13 (29.5)	26 (59.1)	18 (40.9)	2 (5.4)	35 (94.6)	11 (25.6)	33 (74.4)
		χ^2 = 0.09, p = 0.95		χ^2 = 1.65, p = 0.43		χ^2 = 2.64, p = 0.26		χ^2 = 8.28, p = 0.01		χ^2 = 6.77, p = 0.03

^a(N = 364); thirty-eight respondents were excluded from the educational level in this study, on the ground that their level of education was out of the given range.