Assessment of students’ attitude and level of community involvement in community-based education at training sites in Gedeo zone, South Ethiopia

OBJECTIVE: This study was aimed to assess the students’ attitude towards community based education and the level of community involvement in community-based education. RESULT: Among the 634 community members participated in this study, 64.4% were aware of the community-based education program and 86.5% of these participants have favorable attitude towards the program. The level of community involvement in the activities of students in this study is 40.9%. About 72% of the students have favorable attitude towards community based education. Female students were more likely to have favorable attitude toward the program [AOR: 7.64 (CI 1.80, 32.50)]. On the other hand, students who have low participation during group assignment [AOR: 0.07 (CI 0.01, 0.95)] and those with lower socially conscious attitude [AOR: 0.02 (0.01, 0.08)] were less likely to have favorable attitude. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1186/s13104-018-3940-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.