Knowledge and practice of married men towards safe motherhood in Ibadan North Local Government Area, Oyo State, Nigeria

Abstract

Men are the major decision makers in the home; thus, this study was designed to assess the knowledge and practice of married men towards safe motherhood in Ibadan North Local Government Area, Oyo State, Nigeria. A descriptive cross-sectional study was adopted using a multi-stage and proportionate sampling technique to recruit three hundred and ten married men. A semi-structured questionnaire used to solicit information on socio-demographic characteristics, knowledge and practice of safe motherhood among respondents. Knowledge were measured on 35-point and knowledge scores of ≤11, 12-23, ≥24 were rated poor, fair and good respectively. Descriptive statistics and Chi-square test were conducted at 5% level of significance. Respondents' age was 43.7±7.9 years, 85.5% were Yoruba and 54.5% were Muslims, 47.1% of the respondents had secondary education. A good number of the respondents (64.2%) had safe motherhood awareness but the knowledge of safe motherhood was poor (74.8%). About one-third (33.1%) understood safe motherhood as taking care of women throughout pregnancy. The overall mean knowledge score was 8.97±3.48. Level of education and occupation were statistically significant with respondents' knowledge of safe motherhood. There is need to enlighten married men about safe motherhood and involvement in maternal health.