Assess the Knowledge and Attitude of Expectant Fathers on Safe Motherhood

Abstract

Aim: The aim of the study was to assess the knowledge and attitude of expectant fathers on safe motherhood. Methods: Research design: An exploratory survey research design was used to carry out the present study. The method adopted for the study descriptive approach. In the study, the correlation between knowledge and attitude of expectant fathers with selected demographic variables was described. The knowledge was assessed by administering a structured questionnaire and attitude using Likert attitude scale. The setting for this study was the selected outpatient department (OPD) of the hospital of Pune city. The population of the study comprised expectant fathers attending the antenatal OPD and who meet the designed criteria for the study. A convenient sampling technique was used for selecting 60 expectant fathers from antenatal OPD of selected hospital who met the designed criteria during the period of data collection. Result: Of 60 samples, 14 (26.67%) had poor knowledge, 46 (73.33%) had average knowledge, and no sample had good knowledge score. Forty (66.67%) of fathers had positive attitude toward safe motherhood and 20 (33.33%) had negative attitude toward safe motherhood. The correlation between knowledge and attitude was r = 0.24 and P > 0.05, so there was no correlation between knowledge and attitude of expectant fathers. There was an association between knowledge scores and educational status, occupation, and monthly income of fathers regarding safe motherhood as P < 0.01 level of statistical significance. There was an association between attitude scores and educational status of fathers regarding safe motherhood as P < 0.01 level of statistical significance. Conclusion: A significant relationship obtained between the expectant father’s knowledge score and age of fathers, duration of marriage, gestational age of mother, religion, education of father, occupation of father, monthly income, and type of family.