Male partners’ participation in childbirth and its influence on couples’ immediate postpartum family planning initiation: A cross-sectional study

Abstract

Background Immediate initiation of contraception after childbirth can have positive effects on women and their families by helping them to effectively plan the spacing of births. Research indicates that women often desire the presence of their male partners during childbirth to actively engage in the initiation of contraceptive use. The involvement of men in this process is of utmost importance. Nevertheless, there is a scarcity of evidence that explores the impact of male partners' physical presence during childbirth on the initiation of immediate postpartum family planning by couples. Methods A quantitative cross-sectional study was carried out in two hospitals located in Kigali. Prior to their discharge, a questionnaire was administered by an interviewer to 480 women in order to gather data on various aspects including demographic information, the presence of partners during childbirth, and the selection of family planning methods. To analyze the collected data, descriptive statistics and inferential analytical methods were employed to determine frequencies, percentages, and associations between different variables. Results Out of the 480 women who participated in the study, a total of 232 women, accounting for 48.3%, reported that their male partners were present during childbirth. Additionally, 60.6% of the women opted for a family planning method immediately after giving birth, with 33.7% of them choosing intrauterine devices. When it comes to the decision-making process, 42% of the 291 women who selected a preferred method made the decision on their own, while 34% made a joint decision with their partners. Among the 189 women who did not choose any family planning method, 27% stated that it was too early for them to make a decision, and 25.9% mentioned that they needed time to recover first. Interestingly, although a slightly higher proportion of women (63.4%) whose partners were present at birth initiated immediate postpartum contraceptive use compared to women whose partners were not present (58.1%), there was no significant statistical difference between the two groups (χ2 = 1.409, P = 0.137). Conclusion The current data suggests that the presence of male partners during childbirth is still relatively low and requires additional efforts to improve. In order to increase men's participation in decision-making regarding immediate postpartum family planning, healthcare facilities should focus on enhancing family planning education. Furthermore, conducting a comprehensive study on a larger scale would be beneficial to explore the impact of male partners' presence on couples' initiation of family planning immediately after childbirth.