Involvement of male spouse in care during pregnancy in rural areas of district Varanasi

Abstract

Background: Lack of male spouse involvement can affect the delays in the decision to take health care facilities, these are the main contributing factor for increasing maternal mortality and child death ratio. Men involvement in reproductive and sexual health including child health is important in reducing teenage pregnancy, maternal mortality, infant mortality, risky abortions, and total fertility rate. This study aimed to assess the awareness and practices of male spouse in maternal care services in rural areas. Methods: This is a community-based and cross-sectional study which was undertaken in randomly selected four villages of Kashi Vidyapeeth block, Varanasi. Total enumeration of women from the selected villages delivered within last 3 years was done and their husbands were interviewed by using a pre-designed, pretested interview schedule. Data on socioeconomic and demographic characteristics, awareness of various aspects and antenatal and postnatal care were collected and analyzed with SPSS 20 trial version. Results: Out of the total 130 interviewed male spouse (respondents), only 9.8% knows about minimum four antenatal visits. 26.9% were aware about the health related problems during pregnancy and only 7.7% were aware about the danger signs. Janani Suraksha Yojna was known to 11.5% only. 22.4% respondents accompanied their wife for antenatal registration and36.2% for T. T vaccination but 70.2% were present in the hospital during delivery. Logistic regression analysis shows that education of respondents is a key determinant of their involvement during pregnancy. Conclusions: This study identified overall low awareness of male spouse about antenatal visits and involvement during antenatal care. Therefore, there is a strong need to re-strategize the involvement of male spouse in reproductive health including antenatal period.

Views of Men Regarding Not Availing Antenatal Care for Their Pregnant Partners in West Bengal

“…Several studies have revealed that the employment status and the nature of occupation negatively affect the decision of husbands to avail ANC check-ups during their wives' pregnancy (Gibore et al, 2019;Kiptoo & Kipmerewo, 2017;Nyang'au et al, 2021). But in this study, occupation is not found to significantly influence men's decision of availing ANC, which is supported by Singh et al (2021). Men in informal jobs had a low knowledge of ANC, as compared to those who were government or private employees.…”

“…The educational qualification of the male partners is a significant factor that explains increased awareness and ANC check-ups of pregnant wives (Akinpelu & Oluwaseyi, 2014; Chamos et al, 2022; Gnanaselvam et al, 2019; Simkhada et al, 2010; Singh et al, 2021). In the present study, a majority of the participants engaged in the organised sector pointed to a lack of communication between couples as the reason, and those men working as skilled or unskilled labourers and agricultural workers stated that they did not think ANC was required and already had children before as two dominant reasons.…”

“…Several studies have been done to explore the level of male participation in ANC of their pregnant partners and the main barriers to low ANC involvement in different settings of the world (Kiptoo & Kipmerewo, 2017;Ongeso & Okoth, 2018;Ongolly & Bukachi, 2019;Singh et al, 2021;Singh et al, 2022). However, there is a dearth of research regarding views of men for not availing ANC services at all for the pregnant partners which has been reported in the National Family Health Survey 2015Survey -2016Survey and 2019Survey -2020 This study aims to analyse the reasons put forward by men for not availing ANC check-up during the pregnancy of their wives in West Bengal.…”