Husbands' involvement in delivery care utilization in rural Bangladesh: A qualitative study

BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth

Research Article

William T Story¹  Sarah A Burgard²  Fahmida Taleb³  DM Emdadul Hoque³  Nabeel Ashraf Ali³  Jody R Lori⁴ 

[1] Department of Health Management and Policy, University of Michigan, 48109-2029, Ann Arbor, MI, USA;Department of Sociology, University of Michigan, 48109-1382, Ann Arbor, MI, USA;International Center for Diarrheal Disease Research in Bangladesh, GPO Box 128, 1000, Dhaka, Bangladesh;School of Nursing, University of Michigan, 48109-5482, Ann Arbor, MI, USA;

关键词: Health Facility;    Social Norm;    Delivery Care;    Maternal Health;    Informational Support;   

DOI  :  10.1186/1471-2393-12-28

 received in 2011-08-30, accepted in 2012-04-11,  发布年份 2012

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundA primary cause of high maternal mortality in Bangladesh is lack of access to professional delivery care. Examining the role of the family, particularly the husband, during pregnancy and childbirth is important to understanding women's access to and utilization of professional maternal health services that can prevent maternal mortality. This qualitative study examines husbands' involvement during childbirth and professional delivery care utilization in a rural sub-district of Netrokona district, Bangladesh.MethodsUsing purposive sampling, ten households utilizing a skilled attendant during the birth of the youngest child were selected and matched with ten households utilizing an untrained traditional birth attendant, or dhatri. Households were selected based on a set of inclusion criteria, such as approximate household income, ethnicity, and distance to the nearest hospital. Twenty semi-structured interviews were conducted in Bangla with husbands in these households in June 2010. Interviews were transcribed, translated into English, and analyzed using NVivo 9.0.ResultsBy purposefully selecting households that differed on the type of provider utilized during delivery, common themes--high costs, poor transportation, and long distances to health facilities--were eliminated as sufficient barriers to the utilization of professional delivery care. Divergent themes, namely husbands' social support and perceived social norms, were identified as underlying factors associated with delivery care utilization. We found that husbands whose wives utilized professional delivery care provided emotional, instrumental and informational support to their wives during delivery and believed that medical intervention was necessary. By contrast, husbands whose wives utilized an untrained dhatri at home were uninvolved during delivery and believed childbirth should take place at home according to local traditions.ConclusionsThis study provides novel evidence about male involvement during childbirth in rural Bangladesh. These findings have important implications for program planners, who should pursue culturally sensitive ways to involve husbands in maternal health interventions and assess the effectiveness of education strategies targeted at husbands.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© Story et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2012