Involvement of husbands in birth preparedness of their partner: A cross-sectional survey from a rural area of Ernakulam, Kerala

Background: In India, a country driven by a patriarchal society, the involvement of men in their wife’s pregnancy and childbirth has been considerably low. This remained static until the International Conference on Population and Development held in Cairo in 1994 which prompted the equal responsibility of men and women in reproductive health. Objective: The aim of this article is to assess the involvement of husbands in birth preparedness and to determine factors associated with their involvement in the birth preparedness of their partner. Materials and Methods: A community-based cross-sectional study was done in the rural field practice area of Amrita Community Health Training Center at Njarackal, Ernakulam. The minimum calculated sample size was 103; three wards from the panchayath were selected and women who were currently pregnant or had a child less than 2 years of age were interviewed using a semi-structured pre-tested questionnaire. Data were tabulated using Microsoft Excel and analyzed using SPSS version 20. Results: Of the 102 respondents, good involvement of husbands in birth preparedness was found to be 50%. A significant association was seen between husbands’ involvement and age of respondent (>27 years) as well as with the presence of an older child in the couple. Conclusion: As 50% of husbands had only poor involvement, sessions need to be planned under MCH for sensitizing husbands to their role in ensuring a healthy pregnancy, especially in primigravida, as it is seen that there is an association between higher-order births and involvement.