Perceptions of, attitudes towards and barriers to male involvement in newborn care in rural Ghana, West Africa: a qualitative analysis

BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth

Zelee Hill¹  Betty Kirkwood³  Guus HA ten Asbroek³  Alexander Manu²  Charlotte Tawiah-Agyemang²  Mari Dumbaugh¹ 

[1] Institute for Global Health, University College London, 30 Guilford Street, London WC1N 1EH, UK;Kintampo Health Research Centre, Ghana Health Service, PO Box 200, Kintampo, Brong Ahafo Region, Ghana;Department of Nutrition and Public Health Intervention Research, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Keppel Street, London WC1E 7HT, UK

关键词: Ghana;    Care seeking;    Birth preparedness;    Household roles;    Mother-in-law;    Gender;    Newborn health;    Newborn care;    Male involvement;   

Others  :  1125680
DOI  :  10.1186/1471-2393-14-269

 received in 2014-02-04, accepted in 2014-07-22,  发布年份 2014

【 摘 要 】

Background

Male involvement in various health practices is recognized as an important factor in improving maternal and child health outcomes. Male involvement interventions involve men in a variety of ways, at varying levels of inclusion and use a range of outcome measures. There is little agreement on how male involvement should be measured and some authors contend that male involvement may actually be detrimental to women’s empowerment and autonomy. Few studies explore the realities, perceptions, determinants and efficacy of male involvement in newborn care, especially in African contexts.

Methods

Birth narratives of recent mothers (n = 25), in-depth interviews with recent fathers (n = 12) and two focus group discussions with fathers (n = 22) were conducted during the formative research phase of a community-based newborn care trial. Secondary analysis of this qualitative data identified emergent themes and established overall associations related to male involvement, newborn care and household roles in a rural African setting.

Results

Data revealed that gender dictates many of the perceptions and politics surrounding newborn care in this context. The influence of mother-in-laws and generational power dynamics were also identified as significant. Women alone perform almost all tasks related to newborn care whereas men take on the traditional responsibilities of economic providers and decision makers, especially concerning their wives’ and children’s health. Most men were interested in being more involved in newborn care but identified barriers to increased involvement, many of which related to gendered and generational divisions of labour and space.

Conclusions

Men defined involvement in a variety of ways, even if they were not physically involved in carrying out newborn care tasks. Some participant comments revealed potential risks of increasing male involvement suggesting that male involvement alone should not be an outcome in future interventions. Rather, the effect of male involvement on women’s autonomy, the dynamics of senior women’s influence and power and the real impact on health outcomes should be considered in intervention design and implementation. Any male involvement intervention should integrate a detailed understanding of context and strategies to include men in maternal and child health should be mutually empowering for both women and men.

【 授权许可】

   
2014 Dumbaugh et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

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