Male Partner Involvement in Maternal Health Care in the Effutu Municipality of the Central Region of Ghana

Abstract

Globally, men play critical role in women‘s ability to seek health care, including maternal health care. Male partner involvement is a key factor that cannot be ignored in the quest for improvement in maternal health. Male participation has been shown to yield substantial influence in decisions and health outcomes in several other areas of maternal health care, including antenatal, labour and delivery and postnatal care. However, male involvement has been found to be affected by men’s low knowledge of women’s reproductive health issues and cultural restrictions. The study assessed the level of male partner involvement in maternal health care and identifies factors that influence their involvement. METHOD This was a cross-sectional study involving 201 men whose partners had given birth within the last 12 months and had lived in the municipality for not less than 12 months. A Multistage sampling technique was employed in this study and data were collected using structured questionnaire and analysis was done using STATA version 15. Pearson Chi-square test was used to determine the associations of independent variables on the dependent variables. Multiple logistic regressions were conducted to determine the strength of associations. All p-values <0.05 were considered statistically significant. RESULTS The mean age of participants was 33.79 (SD = ±7.28). Overall, 32.0% had high level of involvement, 28.0% had moderate level of involvement and 40.0% had low level of involvement. The period with the highest proportion of male involvement was during labour and delivery. A greater number (86.57%) of the couples reported that male partners accompany the female partner to antennal care , 82.09% of the couples reported that male partner accompany the female partner to postnatal care and 73.13% of them agreed in their response of the male partner supporting the female partner financially during maternal health care. From the multiple binary logistic regression model (Adjusted model), age, marital status, age of last child and knowledge level had significant influence on high level of male involvement in maternal health care (p value <0.05). CONCLUSION The level of male involvement in maternal health care in Effutu Municipality was found to be low. Although, male partners provide financial support to their wives or partners during their maternity periods, their involvement is not sufficient enough since maternal health goes beyond only financial support. Several factors appeared to have contributed to the low level of male involvement. These include knowledge of women maternal health needs, socio-demographic characteristics such as age group, marital status, income and level of educational. Effective public education of the community members, especially men to sensitize them on the importance of involving themselves in their partners’ maternal health care.