Opportunities for male involvement during pregnancy in Magu district, rural Tanzania

There is no author summary for this article yet. Authors can add summaries to their articles on ScienceOpen to make them more accessible to a non-specialist audience.

Abstract

Background

Male involvement during antenatal care is promoted to be an important intervention to increase positive maternal and new born health outcomes. Despite active promotion to stimulate male involvement during antenatal care, few men in Tanzania accompany women to their antenatal care visits. This study aims to understand perceptions, attitudes and behaviour of men regarding their role and involvement during pregnancy and antenatal care visits in a rural district in Tanzania.

Methods

Data collection took place in Magu District between September 2013 and March 2014, using a mixed method approach. This included observations at six government health facilities, nine focus group discussions (with a total of 76 participants) and 26 semi-structured interviews of participants, included through convenience- and snowball sampling. Additionally, a questionnaire was distributed among 156 women attending antenatal care, regarding their partners’ involvement in their pregnancy. Qualitative analysis was done through coding of themes based on the Three Delays Framework. Descriptive analysis was used for quantitative data.

Results

Male involvement in pregnancy and antenatal care in Magu district is low. Although men perceived antenatal care as important for pregnant women, most husbands had a passive attitude concerning their own involvement. Barriers for male involvement included: traditional gender roles, lack of knowledge, perceived low accessibility to join antenatal care visits and previous negative experiences in health facilities.

Conclusion

Although several barriers impede male involvement during antenatal care, men’s internal motivation and attitudes towards their role during pregnancy was generally positive. Increasing community awareness and knowledge about the importance of male involvement and increasing accessibility of antenatal clinics can reduce some of the barriers.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12884-016-0853-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Related collections

Most cited references 19

Record: found
Abstract: found
Article: not found

Too far to walk: maternal mortality in context.

S Thaddeus, D Maine (1994)

The Prevention of Maternal Mortality Program is a collaborative effort of Columbia University's Center for Population and Family Health and multidisciplinary teams of researchers from Ghana, Nigeria and Sierra Leone. Program goals include dissemination of information to those concerned with preventing maternal deaths. This review, which presents findings from a broad body of research, is part of that activity. While there are numerous factors that contribute to maternal mortality, we focus on those that affect the interval between the onset of obstetric complication and its outcome. If prompt, adequate treatment is provided, the outcome will usually be satisfactory; therefore, the outcome is most adversely affected by delayed treatment. We examine research on the factors that: (1) delay the decision to seek care; (2) delay arrival at a health facility; and (3) delay the provision of adequate care. The literature clearly indicates that while distance and cost are major obstacles in the decision to seek care, the relationships are not simple. There is evidence that people often consider the quality of care more important than cost. These three factors--distance, cost and quality--alone do not give a full understanding of decision-making process. Their salience as obstacles is ultimately defined by illness-related factors, such as severity. Differential use of health services is also shaped by such variables as gender and socioeconomic status. Patients who make a timely decision to seek care can still experience delay, because the accessibility of health services is an acute problem in the developing world. In rural areas, a woman with an obstetric emergency may find the closest facility equipped only for basic treatments and education, and she may have no way to reach a regional center where resources exist. Finally, arriving at the facility may not lead to the immediate commencement of treatment. Shortages of qualified staff, essential drugs and supplies, coupled with administrative delays and clinical mismanagement, become documentable contributors to maternal deaths. Findings from the literature review are discussed in light of their implications for programs. Options for health programs are offered and examples of efforts to reduce maternal deaths are presented, with an emphasis on strategies to mobilize and adapt existing resources.

0 comments Cited 420 times – based on 0 reviews      Review now

Bookmark

Record: found
Abstract: found
Article: not found

The impact of including husbands in antenatal health education services on maternal health practices in urban Nepal: results from a randomized controlled trial.

Britta Mullany, S. Becker, M Hindin (2007)

Observational studies suggest that including men in reproductive health interventions can enhance positive health outcomes. A randomized controlled trial was designed to test the impact of involving male partners in antenatal health education on maternal health care utilization and birth preparedness in urban Nepal. In total, 442 women seeking antenatal services during second trimester of pregnancy were randomized into three groups: women who received education with their husbands, women who received education alone and women who received no education. The education intervention consisted of two 35-min health education sessions. Women were followed until after delivery. Women who received education with husbands were more likely to attend a post-partum visit than women who received education alone [RR = 1.25, 95% CI = (1.01, 1.54)] or no education [RR = 1.29, 95% CI = (1.04, 1.60)]. Women who received education with their husbands were also nearly twice as likely as control group women to report making >3 birth preparations [RR = 1.99, 95% CI = (1.10, 3.59)]. Study groups were similar with respect to attending the recommended number of antenatal care checkups, delivering in a health institution or having a skilled provider at birth. These data provide evidence that educating pregnant women and their male partners yields a greater net impact on maternal health behaviors compared with educating women alone.

0 comments Cited 140 times – based on 0 reviews      Review now

Bookmark

Record: found
Abstract: found
Article: not found

Low male partner participation in antenatal HIV counselling and testing in northern Tanzania: implications for preventive programs.

S Msuya, E Mbizvo, A. Hussain … (2008)

This study aimed to describe the prevalence and predictors for male partner participation in HIV voluntary counselling and testing (VCT) at two primary healthcare clinics in Moshi urban, Tanzania as well as the effect of partner participation on uptake of HIV perinatal interventions. Pregnant women (n = 2654) in their third trimester, participating in a prevention of mother to child tranmission (PMTCT) program between June 2002 and March 2004 were encouraged to inform and invite their partners for HIV-VCT. Trained nurses conducted pre-test counselling, interviews, clinical examinations and blood sampling from the participating women and their partners. Test results were presented and post-test counselling was conducted individually or in couples, depending on the wishes of the participants. Three-hundred-and-thirty-two male partners (12.5%) came for HIV-VCT. A high proportion (131; 40%) came after the woman had delivered. HIV-seropositive women whose partners attended were three times more likely to use Nevirapine prophylaxis, four times more likely to avoid breastfeeding and six times more likely to adhere to the infant feeding method selected than those whose partners didn't attend. Women were more likely to bring their partner for VCT if they collected their own test results, were living with their partner, had a high monthly income and had expressed at enrolment the intention to share HIV results with their partner. Although PMTCT programs are presumably a good entry point for male involvement in prevention of sexual and perinatal HIV transmission, this traditional clinic-based approach reaches few men. Given the positive influence male participation has on the acceptance of perinatal interventions, a different approach for promoting male participation in VCT is urgently required. Within PMTCT programs, counseling should emphasize the advantages of partner participation to encourage women to inform and convince male partners to come for VCT. Also, promotion of couple VCT outside antenatal settings in male friendly and accessible settings should be given priority.

0 comments Cited 120 times – based on 0 reviews      Review now

Bookmark

All references

Author and article information

Contributors

A. Solnes Miltenburg: a.solnesmiltenburg@gmail.com

Journal

Journal ID (nlm-ta): BMC Pregnancy Childbirth

Journal ID (iso-abbrev): BMC Pregnancy Childbirth

Title: BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth

Publisher: BioMed Central (London )

ISSN (Electronic): 1471-2393

Publication date (Electronic): 29 March 2016

Publication date PMC-release: 29 March 2016

Publication date Collection: 2016

Volume: 16

Electronic Location Identifier: 66

Affiliations

[ ]Department of Medical Humanities EMGO, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

[ ]African Woman Foundation, Mwanza, Magu District Tanzania

[ ]Project Manager Crops Marketing Bureau (CROMABU) & local Project Manager of African Woman Foundation, Magu, Mwanza, Tanzania

[ ]Department of Obstetrics, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands

[ ]Athena Institute for Research on Innovation and Communication in Health and Life Sciences, VU University, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

[ ]Department of Community Medicine, Institute of Health and Society, Medical Faculty, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway

Article

Publisher ID: 853

DOI: 10.1186/s12884-016-0853-8

PMC ID: 4810504

PubMed ID: 27021593

SO-VID: f33ef0b0-e4f2-48be-bb05-8d14396b9d75

License:

Open AccessThis article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver ( http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.

History

Date received : 10 March 2015

Date accepted : 17 March 2016

Custom metadata

ScienceOpen disciplines: Obstetrics & Gynecology

Keywords: male involvement,pregnancy,maternal health,barriers to access,antenatal care,hiv testing

Data availability:

ScienceOpen disciplines: Obstetrics & Gynecology

Keywords: male involvement, pregnancy, maternal health, barriers to access, antenatal care, hiv testing

Opportunities for male involvement during pregnancy in Magu district, rural Tanzania

Read this article at

Abstract

Background

Methods

Results

Conclusion

Electronic supplementary material

Related collections

HLA-G and immune tolerance in pregnancy

Most cited references 19

Too far to walk: maternal mortality in context.

The impact of including husbands in antenatal health education services on maternal health practices in urban Nepal: results from a randomized controlled trial.

Low male partner participation in antenatal HIV counselling and testing in northern Tanzania: implications for preventive programs.

Author and article information

Contributors

Journal

Affiliations

Article

History

Categories

Custom metadata

Comments

Comment on this article

Similar content 222

Cited by 33

Most referenced authors 211