Abstract
BackgroundMen’s participation in antenatal, childbirth and postnatal care is crucial to the health of the mothers and neonates. Nevertheless, very few men participate in maternal health, especially in developing countries. Mass media is one of the popular and effective tools for health promotion and behavioral change globally. However, this approach is rarely recognized in maternal health literature and its impact on men’s participation in maternal health is not thoroughly understood. Therefore, the objective of this study was to assess the effect of mass media campaign on men’s involvement in maternal health.MethodsA cross-sectional study involving 3,825 women of childbearing age (15–49 years) was conducted between July and December 2013 in Malawi’s Mchinji district. Our interest was to establish if husbands of the women who were exposed to the maternal health radio program called Phukusi la Moyo (PLM) were significantly different to those of the women who were not exposed, especially in terms of their involvement in maternal health. We collected data on exposure to the radio campaign and men’s involvement in maternal health through face-to-face interviews using electronic structured questionnaires. The univariate, bivariate and multiple logistic regression analyses were used during analysis of the data. The level of significance was set at p ≤ 0.05.ResultsHusbands of the women who were exposed to the PLM radio program were more likely to participate in antenatal care (OR1.5 [95% confidence interval 1.3-1.8]), to be involved in childbirth (OR 1.7 [95% confidence interval 1.5-2.0]) and to participate in postnatal care (OR 1.9 [95% confidence interval 1.7-22]) than their counterparts.ConclusionThe use of mass media in promoting the involvement of men in antenatal care, childbirth and postnatal care is effective. Henceforward, we recommend the inclusion of mass media in projects or interventions designed to promote men’s engagement in maternal health.
Highlights
Men’s participation in antenatal, childbirth and postnatal care is crucial to the health of the mothers and neonates
We have established that the husbands of the women who were exposed to the Phukusi la Moyo (PLM) radio program were more likely to participate in antenatal care (OR1.5 [95% confidence interval 1.3-1.8]), to be involved in childbirth and to participate in postnatal care than husbands of the women who were not exposed to the radio program
The findings indicate that the husbands of the women who were exposed to the PLM radio program were 1.5 times likely to participate in antenatal care, 1.7 times to be involved in childbirth and 1.9 times to participate in postnatal care than husbands of their colleagues who were not exposed to the PLM radio program
Summary
Men’s participation in antenatal, childbirth and postnatal care is crucial to the health of the mothers and neonates. Distribution of information, education and communication materials; community meetings, outreach activities and workshops or seminars are some of the frequently reported community and workplace interventions to promote men’s engagement in maternal health [9,10,11,12]. Most of these initiatives have been scaled-up in order to reach more men, only a handful of them have been evaluated and reported [3]. Even with these interventions, men are still largely missing in the literature of maternal and child health [13]
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