In the Nepalese context, can a husband’s attendance during childbirth help his wife feel more in control of labour?

Abstract

BackgroundA husband’s support during childbirth is vital to a parturient woman’s emotional well-being. Evidence suggests that this type of support enables a woman to feel more in control during labour by reducing maternal anxiety during childbirth. However, in Nepal, where childbearing is considered an essential element of a marital relationship, the husband’s role in this process has not been explored. Therefore, we examined whether a woman in Nepal feels more in control during labour when her husband is present, compared to when another woman accompanies her or when she has no support person.MethodsThe study participants were low risk primigravida women in the following categories: women who gave birth with their husband present (n = 97), with a female friend present (n = 96), with mixed support (n = 11), and finally, a control group (n = 105). The study was conducted in the public maternity hospital in Kathmandu in 2011. The Labour Agentry Scale (LAS) was used to measure the extent to which women felt in control during labour. The study outcome was compared using an F-test from a one-way analysis of variance, and multiple regression analyses.ResultsThe women who gave birth with their husband’s support reported higher mean LAS scores (47.92 ± 6.95) than the women who gave birth with a female friend’s support (39.91 ± 8.27) and the women in the control group (36.68 ± 8.31). The extent to which the women felt in control during labour was found to be positively associated with having their husband’s company during childbirth (β = 0.54; p < 0.001) even after adjusting for background variables. In addition, having a female friend’s company during childbirth was related to the women’s feeling of being in control during labour (β = 0.19; p < 0.001) but the effect size was smaller than for a husband’s company.ConclusionThe results show that when a woman’s husband is present at the birth, she feels more in control during labour. This finding has strong implications for maternity practices in Nepal, where maternity wards rarely encourage a woman to bring her husband to a pregnancy appointment and to be present during childbirth.

Utilization of Institutional Delivery Services and Associated Factors among Mothers in Semi-pastoralist, Southern Ethiopia

“…Women whose husbands attended at ANC follow up were more likely to utilize the institution delivery service. This is also similar with the studies conducted in Tanzania, rural Bangladesh, and Nepal [16,[23][24][25][26][27][28][29]. Women, whose husbands attending with their own ANC follow NB ** P <0.001, * P < 0.05 and ***Not significant up, give opportunity for the husband access to health information.…”

“…This may give the chance for the women to communicate with their husbands about ANC follow up and place of birth. According to different literatures, women and their husbands should be given health education together, as this would result in a greater net impact on maternal health behaviors, compared to educating the women alone [26,27]. This might give the chance to men's to acquire knowledge about maternal health care and develop positive attitudes towards institution delivery.…”

“…This might give the chance to men's to acquire knowledge about maternal health care and develop positive attitudes towards institution delivery. This might also promoted spousal communication and arrange means of transportation and resources for facility based delivery [27,28].…”

Measuring women’s childbirth experiences: a systematic review for identification and analysis of validated instruments

“…The Scale for Measuring Maternal Satisfaction- Caesarean birth/SMMS-caesarean birth [44]Gungor & Beji (2012)TurkeyTo measure maternal satisfaction with birth in order to evaluate women’s experiences in labour and the early postpartum period before hospital discharge.See above.The Labor and Delivery Index/LADY-X [45]Gärtner et al (2015)The NetherlandsA utility measure for economic evaluations in perinatal studies.Developed to measure cost effectiveness of perinatal care interventions for use in research and is able to discriminate between groups [45]. The only instrument identified that measures economic evaluations in perinatal studies.The Labour Agentry Scale/LAS [46]Hodnett & Simmons-Tropea (1987)CanadaAn instrument measuring expectancies and experiences of personal control during childbirth.Since this scale was developed in 1987 [46] it has been used in studies from a broad range of countries as well as in different types of studies [89–96]. Although widely used, further studies of the psychometric properties are recommended to ensure its validity and reliability.The Birth Satisfaction Scale - Revised/BSS-R [27–29]Hollins Martin & Fleming (2011) Hollins Martin et al (2012)Hollins Martin & Martin (2014)UKTo measure postnatal women’s birth satisfaction.The birth satisfaction scale – revised [28] is a further development of the Birth satisfaction scale [27, 29, 97].…”

Peran Suami dalam Menentukan Kesejahteraan Subjektif Istri pada Saat Hamil dan Melahirkan

“…Penelitian Story et al (2012) juga menemukan hal serupa bahwa dukungan emosional dan instrumental selama kehamilan memberikan pengaruh positif terhadap kehamilan dan persalinan. Sapkota et al (2012) juga mengemukakan bahwa dukungan peran suami dalam mendampingi istri menjalani persalinan menjadi penyebab istri merasa memegang kendali (feels more in control) selama persalinan. Dukungan peran suami pada lingkup domestik dikemukakan Utamidewi (2017) yang mengungkapkan bahwa kebahagiaan lebih terasa dalam rumah tangga ketika suami membantu istri melakukan pekerjaan rumah tangga.…”