A male companion at antenatal care is unusual and spousal participation during labor and delivery in Nigeria is poor. This can be attributed to amongst other things the beliefs that labor is exclusively a women affair. Although there are few studies about male involvement in maternity care in Nigeria, no review has been conducted regarding spousal participation in labor and delivery. Therefore, majority of women desire their spouses as birth companions and attest to having emotional comfort and support when their spouses participate in their labor and delivery, the status and acceptability of spousal participation in labor and delivery in Nigeria is quite low due in part to socio-cultural drawbacks. This narrative review looks at existing research literatures identified through electronic sources such as Google Scholar, PubMed and EBSCO published in English between 1995 and 2013. The aim of this narrative review is to extract from these literatures the level of participation of Nigerian spouses in labor and delivery. Keys words used for the search include spouse, labor, delivery, Nigeria, maternal; childbirth and only English papers were included. Although presently weak, the spousal participation in labor and delivery in Nigeria should be encouraged and promoted as a deliberate health-care policy through the creation of an enabling environment and dissemination of information highlighting the pivotal role that spouses could play in labor and delivery.

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This study identified poor staff attitudes towards pain relief and spousal presence during childbirth as barriers. Providing adequate policies on pain management, continuous staff education and orientation on spousal relationship will improve active spousal participation and maternal satisfaction during childbirth.

information from this study can improve midwifery practice and aid further research regarding midwives' attitudes, knowledge and usage of partner presence in pain management during childbirth.

Background. Measures of spousal effect during parturient pain should take a tripartite approach involving the parturients, spouses, and midwives. Aim. To develop and validate three questionnaires measuring spousal presence in management of parturient pain in Nigeria. Methods. There are two phases: (1) development of questionnaires, Abuja Instrument for Midwives (AIM), Abuja Instrument for Parturient Pain (AIPP), and Abuja Instrument for Parturient Spouses (AIPS), utilizing literatures, Kuopio instrument for fathers (KIF) and expertise of health professionals, and (2) pilot study to validate the questionnaires which were administered in two hospitals in Nigeria: midwives (n = 10), parturients (n = 10), and spouses (n = 10).  Results. Internal consistency for the three questionnaires indicated Cronbach's alpha coefficient of 0.789 (AIM), 0.802 (AIPP), and 0.860 (AIPS), while test-retest reliability was r = 0.99 (AIM), r = 0.99 (AIPP), and r = 0.90 (AIPS). Conclusions. AIM, AIPP, and AIPS provide a means of investigating the effectiveness of spousal presence in management of parturient pain in Nigeria. However, further testing of each instrument is needed in a larger population to replicate the beneficial findings of AIMS, AIPP, and AIPS which can contribute rigor to future studies.