Anxiety and its associated factors among inmates in ARBA Minch and JINKA town, southern Ethiopia

BACKGROUND: The prison populations are more affected by mental illness than the general population but little attention is given to this population. And there is a limitation of study on the magnitude of anxiety and its associated factors. So this study aimed to assess the magnitude of anxiety and its associated factors among prisoners in Arba Minch and Jinka town, Ethiopia. METHODS: An institution-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 650 randomly selected prisoners at Arba Minch and Jinka town. Data was collected by using open data kit then converted to excel and exported to SPSS version 25 for analysis. Descriptive statistics including frequency, means, and proportion were performed. Binary logistic regression was used to identify the associated variables. P < 0.05 was used to declare statistical significance. RESULTS: The proportion of Anxiety among prisoners was 28% [N = 174, (95%CI, 25–32%)]. Age ≥ 48 (AOR = 4.21, 95%CI 1.99–8.93), age 38–47 (3.95, 1.94–8.07), being an urban resident (2.48, 1.56–3.95), not doing physical exercise (2.71, 1.53–4.79), having a chronic disease (1.63, 1.07–2.47), having 1–2 stressful life events (2.92, 1.59–5.35), duration of punishment > 5 years (2.92, 1.59–5.35) and lack of income-generating job in prison (2.54, 1.48–4.35) were significantly associated with anxiety. CONCLUSION: The magnitude of anxiety among prisoners was high. Age ≥ 48 and 38–47, urban residence, not doing physical exercise, having a chronic disease, having 1–2 stressful life events, duration of punishment > 5 years, and lack of income-generating job in prison were significantly associated with anxiety. Giving special attention and being supportive to older age and those who have a chronic disease, facilitating physical exercise, creating job opportunity in the prison, and giving training for prisoners on stress coping mechanism and anxiety is recommended.