Background: Ethiopia has taken unprecedented preventive measures like closure of higher education institutions to halt the spread of COVID-19. However, still, there is increasing number of cases and mortality due to COVID-19. As the youth age groups are highly active part of the community and as the colleges are one of the major areas where they gather together it would highly necessity to apply preventive measures there. Thus, this study aimed to assess the prevention practices and associated factors against COVID 19 among college students.

Methods:A cross-sectional study design was conducted among 520 students. The sample was proportionally allocated into the randomly selected three colleges and the students were recruited using a simple random sampling technique. Variables with p-value < 0.25 in the bivariate logistic regression analysis were entered into the multivariable logistic regression model to identify the factors associated with COVID-19 prevention practices (Adequate Vs Inadequate, where adjusted odds ratio (AOR), 95% confidence interval (CIs) for AOR, and P-values were used for testing significance and interpretation of results.. Additionally, the qualitative data were collected from a total of 6 deans and student representatives using key informant interview and then transcribed, translated, and analyzed using thematic content analysis.

Results:This study involved 520 students with response rate of 97%. The level of adequate practice was 46.9%. After adjusting for covariates; being in the late level of education (year III) (AOR: 3.863, 95% CI: 1.66, 8.95), living with > 5 family size (AOR: 0.57, 95% CI: 0.37, 0.89), and being having adequate level of institutional and surroundings (AOR: 2.11 95% CI: 1.35, 3.30), having adequate level of knowledge and attitude (AOR: 6.51, 95% CI: 3.76, 11.25) were the independent predictors of adequate preventive practices against COVID-19.

Conclusions:In this study, the overall adequate practice towards preventive measures of COVID-19 among college students was too low compared to completely performing the WHO recommendations and the FDRE directives to prevent and control the pandemic. Regulatory bodies should strictly control the colleges and the students to abide to the laws and regulations of prevention, and vaccinations have to be given to students by health authorities.