Opportunities for male involvement during pregnancy in Magu district, rural Tanzania

BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth

Research Article

J. Barras¹  A. Solnes Miltenburg²  M. van Elteren³  E. Vermeulen⁴  J. van Roosmalen⁵  N. Maselle⁶ 

[1] African Woman Foundation, Mwanza, Magu District, Tanzania;African Woman Foundation, Mwanza, Magu District, Tanzania;Department of Community Medicine, Institute of Health and Society, Medical Faculty, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway;Department of Medical Humanities EMGO, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands;Department of Medical Humanities EMGO, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands;African Woman Foundation, Mwanza, Magu District, Tanzania;Department of Obstetrics, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands;Athena Institute for Research on Innovation and Communication in Health and Life Sciences, VU University, Amsterdam, The Netherlands;Project Manager Crops Marketing Bureau (CROMABU) & local Project Manager of African Woman Foundation, Magu, Mwanza, Tanzania;

关键词: Male involvement;    Pregnancy;    Maternal health;    Barriers to access;    Antenatal care;    HIV testing;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12884-016-0853-8

 received in 2015-03-10, accepted in 2016-03-17,  发布年份 2016

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundMale involvement during antenatal care is promoted to be an important intervention to increase positive maternal and new born health outcomes. Despite active promotion to stimulate male involvement during antenatal care, few men in Tanzania accompany women to their antenatal care visits. This study aims to understand perceptions, attitudes and behaviour of men regarding their role and involvement during pregnancy and antenatal care visits in a rural district in Tanzania.MethodsData collection took place in Magu District between September 2013 and March 2014, using a mixed method approach. This included observations at six government health facilities, nine focus group discussions (with a total of 76 participants) and 26 semi-structured interviews of participants, included through convenience- and snowball sampling. Additionally, a questionnaire was distributed among 156 women attending antenatal care, regarding their partners’ involvement in their pregnancy. Qualitative analysis was done through coding of themes based on the Three Delays Framework. Descriptive analysis was used for quantitative data.ResultsMale involvement in pregnancy and antenatal care in Magu district is low. Although men perceived antenatal care as important for pregnant women, most husbands had a passive attitude concerning their own involvement. Barriers for male involvement included: traditional gender roles, lack of knowledge, perceived low accessibility to join antenatal care visits and previous negative experiences in health facilities.ConclusionAlthough several barriers impede male involvement during antenatal care, men’s internal motivation and attitudes towards their role during pregnancy was generally positive. Increasing community awareness and knowledge about the importance of male involvement and increasing accessibility of antenatal clinics can reduce some of the barriers.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© Vermeulen et al. 2016