Male Involvement on Skilled Delivery Care Utilization in Mareka Woreda, Southern Ethiopia: A Community Based Cross Sectional Study

Abstract

Back ground: Skilled care for pregnancy and childbirth are the most important issues of reproductive health affected by male partners, however, how male involvement affects maternal health care utilization is lacking. So the study aimed to assess factors for male involvement and skilled delivery care utilization in Mareka woreda. Methods: This cross-sectional study used stratified sampling in Mareka district south east Ethiopia to select 676 couples currently in union who have less than one year old child. A structured questionnaire used to assess male involvement on skilled delivery utilization and associated factors. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was employed in SPSS version 16.0 to analyze independently associated factors. That factor with p value < 0.05 was declared as statistically significant at final model. Result: Overall, 32.9% of women used skilled delivery care and 41.3% of husbands' involved on skilled delivery care utilization on their recent child birth. Women assisted by skilled birth attendants in their recent delivery were educated AOR=0.01(0.001-0.10), knowledgeable on danger sign AOR= 3.44(1.34-8.79), had favorable attitude for skilled delivery care AOR=2.21(1.11-4.41), and those their husbands' participated on skilled delivery care use AOR=2.35(1.18-4.66). And husbands' who participated on skilled delivery care utilization were educated AOR 1.77(1.13-2.50)], younger AOR 1.77(1.19-2.62), prefers health facility for delivery AOR 1.85(1.24-2.75) and have had positive perception on importance of skilled delivery care AOR 1.68(1.13, 3.29). CONCLUSION: male involvement on skilled delivery care utilization has a significant effect on women's' use of skilled birth attendants at birth. Finding of our study implies improving awareness of communities on benefit of skilled delivery care and male involvement are needed.

The association between male involvement in institutional delivery and women’s use of institutional delivery in Debre Tabor town, North West Ethiopia: Community based survey

“…Male partners’ involvement in institutional delivery was shown to increases with increase in educational level of male partners, which reinforces the significant role that education plays in improving utilization of maternal health service. This finding is similar to the studies carried out in in Ethiopia [ 34 , 45 ], Keyna [ 46 ] and Nigeria [ 47 ]. This is due to the fact that education leads to better health awareness, and may contribute for timely health care seeking and economic capability required.…”

“…This study showed that male partners who had good knowledge on maternal heath were more likely involved in institutional delivery than those who had poor knowledge which is consistent with other studies conducted in Lemo woreda [ 35 ], Ambo town [ 34 ] and Mareka woreda, southern, Ethiopia [ 45 ]. Those with good knowledge may understand well the possible birth complications; so that they encourage their spouses to give birth in health institutions.…”

Individual, socio-cultural, and health facility factors affecting men’s involvement in facility-based childbirth in Southwest, Ethiopia: A mixed method study

“…Men having sufficient knowledge of danger signs during pregnancy were more likely to get involved in facility-based childbirth than those men having low or no knowledge of danger signs during pregnancy, and previous studies also confirmed this claim. 27,29,33 This could be explained as, when men appreciate the danger signs during pregnancy, they might urge their spouses to seek facility-based childbirth in an intention to avoid potential complications that may arise.…”

“…However, other studies carried out in the Hadia zone, Mareka Woreda, Southern Ethiopia, and Northern Nigerian claimed the inverse relationship between men’s age and the likelihood of men getting involved in facility-based childbirth, in which younger men were more likely to get involved in facility-based childbirth than older men. 27,29,32…”

“…In this study, it turned out that more educated men were more likely to get involved in the facility-based childbirth of their spouses; similar claims were reported by previous studies carried out in the Busia district of Kenya, Omoro County district of Uganda, and Nigeria. 26,29,30 This implies that education enables men to realize the significance of their involvement in maternal healthcare service utilization, particularly in facility-based childbirth. Moreover, unlike less educated people, more educated people are in a better position to resist socially prescribed gender role and responsibility that potentially hinders men not to engage in their spouses’ sexual and reproductive health affairs.…”