Abstract
BackgroundThe Gambia is a male-dominant society in which the cultural norms empower husbands to decide when and where their wives seek care, yet they are not always involved in maternal health care services. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to design and measure the effects of antenatal health education on spousal participation in birth preparedness in Farafenni and satellite villages.MethodsThe study used a quasi-experimental design, and the participants were 300 spouses of pregnant women attending their antenatal care booking at Farafenni Hospital. A multistage sampling method was used to select the study participants who were then equally distributed to the intervention and comparison groups. Pre-test data were collected from both groups. Thereafter, the intervention group was exposed to two health education sessions on obstetric danger signs and birth preparedness. The post-test data were collected immediately before discharge of the participants’ wives after institutional delivery or within 2 weeks post-delivery for those who did not accompany their wives to the health care institution, or whose wives delivered at home. IBM SPSS version 21 software was used to analyze the data.ResultsThe differences between the demographic characteristics of participants in the intervention and comparison groups were not statistically significant except for the highest level of education achieved. After controlling for the demographic variables, the health education administered to the intervention group effectively increased knowledge on birth preparedness among them (F (1, 255) = 376.108, p < .001). Every unit increase in the intervention led to a unit increase in the spouses’ knowledge on birth preparedness (β = 0.789, p < 0.001). Furthermore, the participants in the intervention group had higher mean score (M = 4.4; SD = 0.8) on participation in birth preparedness than those in the comparison group (M = 0.9; SD = 0.8). The spouses in the intervention group were four times more likely to be prepared for the delivery of their wives after being exposed to the health education than those in the comparison group (F (1, 255) = 522.414, p < .001).ConclusionThe study provides evidence that educating men on maternal health care can improve their level of participation in birth preparedness.Trial registrationName of Registry: Pan African Clinical Trial Registry (www.pactr.org). Registry Number:PACTR202004752273171. Date of Registration: 19th April 2020. Retrospectively Registered.
Highlights
The high number of women dying during pregnancy, delivery, and post-partum periods remains a significant public health problem
According to Lerberg, et al, 72% of the pregnant women in the North Bank East Region of The Gambia reported that they delivered under the care of traditional birth attendants (TBAs) who perform deliveries outside health facilities, lack the skill required for early identification and management of danger signs of pregnancy and delivery [4]
Most of the attritions were from the participants that came from the rural areas which may due to the distance they had to travel; they formed 57% (n = 30) of the attrition
Summary
Background The high number of women dying during pregnancy, delivery, and post-partum periods remains a significant public health problem. The Gambia was classified among the 18 sub-Saharan Africa countries with a high maternal mortality ratio (MMR) at 597/100,000 live births in 2017 [2]. Farafenni is located in the rural Gambia, and the National Demographic Health Survey of 2019 indicated that this area’s maternal mortality ratio (MMR) is twofold higher than that of the urban parts of the country. Despite The Gambia being a male-dominant society in which the cultural norms empower husbands to decide when and where their wives seek health care, yet they are not always involved in maternal health care services. The Gambia is a male-dominant society in which the cultural norms empower husbands to decide when and where their wives seek care, yet they are not always involved in maternal health care services. The purpose of this study was to design and measure the effects of antenatal health education on spousal participation in birth preparedness in Farafenni and satellite villages
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