Hindawi Publishing Corporation BioMed Research International Volume 2017, Article ID 7427892, 9 pages http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2017/7427892 Research Article Perceived Psychological, Economic, and Social Impact of Khat Chewing among Adolescents and Adults in Nekemte Town, East Welega Zone, West Ethiopia Amsalu Taye Wondemagegn, Melese Chego Cheme, and Kelemu Tilahun Kibret Department of Public Health, College of Medical and Health Sciences, Wollega University, Nekemte, Ethiopia Correspondence should be addressed to Amsalu Taye Wondemagegn;
[email protected] Received 11 October 2016; Revised 26 November 2016; Accepted 25 December 2016; Published 6 February 2017 Academic Editor: Satoshi Maruyama Copyright © 2017 Amsalu Taye Wondemagegn et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The main aim of this study was to assess psychological, economic, and social impact of khat chewing among adolescents, in Nekemte town, East Welega Zone. A community based cross-sectional study was conducted from March to June 2016 using both quantitative and qualitative methods of data collection. A total of 359 samples were included in the study. A pretested, interviewer based structured questionnaire was employed during data collection. The study found the current prevalence of khat chewing practices was 48.6%. Perceived psychological problems especially depression and anxiety were associated with khat chewing practices. The risk of depression was about 25 times higher among khat chewers compared to nonchewers. Similarly the risk of anxiety among khat chewers was about 5 times higher compared to nonchewers.