Birth Preparedness Practice: Profiling Determining Factors for Male Involvement in Southern Nigeria

Abstract

Maternal mortality remains high in most African countries including Nigeria. Delays in seeking care for normal delivery and obstetric emergencies are the major determinants of maternal mortality. Birth Preparedness (BP) has been found to be very effective in reducing these delays. Females have always been focused on birth preparedness studies. This study was however designed to investigate male involvement in the practice of birth preparedness in Southern, Nigeria. This was a descriptive study design using a validated structured interviewer-administered questionnaire. A multistage sampling technique was used to select 302 married men in the community. Knowledge on BP was measured on a 48-point knowledge scale and a 30-point practice scale was used to determine male involvement in BP. Data were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics at p<0.05. The mean age of the respondents was 38.0 ± 8.6 years. Majority (59.9%) of the respondents had good knowledge on birth preparedness. Mean score for level of involvement was 21.52±5.4 and 43.0% of the respondents had good score. Identified factors militating against male involvement in birth preparedness include low socioeconomic status, busy work schedule, cultural belief, and poor attitude of health workers. There was significant association between knowledge of birth preparedness and religion as well as level of male involvement in BP (p=0.018; 0.001 respectively). This study showed low level of male involvement in birth preparedness. Several factors were identified to be responsible for this. There is therefore the need for sustainable community health education programmes to motivate and encourage male involvement in birth preparedness. Keywords: Birth preparedness, Knowledge, Male involvement, Practices