Effectiveness of an educational counselling program in improving husbands’ knowledge, awareness, attitudes, and intention to participate with wife in family planning

Abstract

Background: Egypt is faced with a major challenge with over-population. The burden of family planning and use of contraception have always fallen on women, with undermining the role of men. Aim of the study:To assess the effectiveness of an educational FP counselling program in improving husband's related knowledge, awareness, attitudes, and intention to participate with wife in FP. Participants and methods: This quasi-experimental study was conducted in urban and rural household from community-dwelling in Beni-Suef city and suburbs on 110 husbands. An interview questionnaire covering participant's demographic characteristics, knowledge, sources of information, attitudes towards FP, and the intention to participate with wife in FP, and related barriers. The fieldwork was executed through assessment, planning, implementation, and evaluation phases. Results: Husbands median age was 35 years; 47.3% had university education. Postintervention knowledge demonstrated statistically significant improvements in all areas (p<0.001); 73.6% had total satisfactory knowledge. Statistically significant improvements in attitudes were shown after the intervention. The multivariate analysis identified the study intervention as the main positive predictor of husbands' knowledge score. The intervention increased husbands' intention to participate in FP with wife by two-folds (OR=2.012). Conclusion and recommendations:The educational counseling program is successful in improving husband's knowledge and attitudes. It is recommended to implement this program in various healthcare settings. Further research is proposed to examine the effectiveness of such interventions involving husbands and wives together.