Determinant Factors of Male Involvement in Birth Preparedness and Complication Readiness at Mekelle Town; a community Based Study

Abstract

Introduction: Every pregnant woman faces risk of life-threatening obstetric complications. A birth-preparedness package promotes active preparation and assists in decision-making for healthcare seeking in case of such complications. The main objective of this study was to assess the determinant factors of male involvement on birth preparedness and complication readiness at Mekelle town. Methods: A community based cross-sectional study was conducted from July to October/2014 among 376 husbands/male whose wives was delivered within the last 12 months at Mekelle town northern part of Ethiopia. Multi stage stratified sampling technique with Probabilities proportional to size was used. Study subjects again were selected by systematic random sampling technique from 6 randomly selected kebelle’s in the town. Data was collected using structured interview questionnaire and entered, cleaned and analyzed using SPPS version 20.00. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to avoid any confounding variables. Results: A total of 376 husbands were participated in the study with 95% response rate. About 60% of the husbands had participated in birth preparedness and complication readiness (BP/CR). The study revealed that husbands were more likely to participate in birth preparedness if they had better knowledge in postnatal danger signs (AOR= 4.29, 95% CI: 1.54-11.94) and with good (AOR=9.05, 95% CI=4.27-19.18) & better knowledge on birth preparedness (AOR=16.50, 95% CI=7.25-37.58). Conclusion & Recommendation: Male involvement in birth preparedness and complication readiness is still low in this study. But there is slightly better knowledge on postnatal danger signs and knowledge on birth preparedness and complication readiness. Thus, male awareness in postnatal danger signs and birth preparedness should be increased by local and other concerned bodies to make husbands to share in birth preparedness.