Men’s participation in utilization of reproductive and child health services by women – A community based cross sectional study

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Men’s active involvement and support is an essential component for making women’s life better, be it pregnancy or child rearing. This is especially important in communities like India where men play many roles as sexual partners, husbands, fathers and gatekeepers for their families. Men’s supportive stance in reproductive and child health services utilization plays a crucial role towards the better future of mother, baby and family as a whole. Hence, the present research was undertaken to study the men’s participation in utilization of reproductive and child health services by women and to know the current knowledge and behavior of men in promoting reproductive and child health services. METHODOLOGY A community based cross-sectional study was conducted from January to December 2013. It was conducted in the area of Ramnagar UHC, which is an urban field practice area of Department of Community Medicine, Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College, Belgaum. Total 400 participants were included in study. The participants were husbands of women in the age group of 18-45 years having at least one living child in the age group of 12-24 months and residing in the urban field practice area of Ramnagar Urban Health Centre, Belgaum at least one year preceding the survey. After obtaining the institutional ethical clearance, pilot study was conducted and questionnaire was modified accordingly. Written informed consent was obtained from every participant. Data was collected by using pre-designed pre-structured questionnaire on the following aspects: 1. Socio Demographic Factors. 2. Assessment of current knowledge and behaviour of men in promoting reproductive and child Statistical analysis was done using Pearson’s Chi- Square test to find out the association between men’s participation and various socio-demographic variables. A probability value (P value) of less than 0.05 was considered as significant. RESULTS In the current study, 61.2% participants were in the age group of 30 or less than 30 years, 51% of spouses of the participants were in the age group of 20-24 years. 35.5% of participants were office employees and 62.8% of their wives were home makers. A large number of participants and their wives had studied up to high school (42% and 37.5% respectively). About 84% of the participants’ wives had registered their pregnancy within 12 weeks of pregnancy. Most, (86.2%) husbands accompanied their wives to ANC checkup. Majority, 84.8% of husbands helped their wives in domestic work during pregnancy. Around 68% of husbands knew that TT immunization should be taken by the woman during pregnancy. In 60.5% cases, husband accompanied their wives to the hospital for delivery. In 51.2% of cases, husband and wife together took the decision about the place of delivery. In majority 83.25% mothers took care of women after the delivery. Most (87.75%) participants accompanied their baby to the immunization. 62% participants took their child to the hospital when they were sick. Regarding family planning methods, most of husbands were aware. In three fifth of the case, husband and wife together made the decision of using family planning methods. CONCLUSION AND INTERPRETATION The current study revealed that men had participated actively in promoting antenatal, intra natal care and child care, but were less involved in post natal care. Though they had a good knowledge about family planning methods, only women were practicing the family planning methods in most of the cases. Various factors like age, education, occupation, religion, number of children the couple had and socio-economic status influenced the men’s participation in promotion of reproductive and child health. The importance of educating males is further emphasized by the finding that men who participate in antenatal education are more knowledgeable about family planning methods and are more concerned about their partner's nutritional needs during pregnancy. Implications: Increased men’s participation in reproductive and child health increases the utilization of reproductive and child health service by women and children.