Abstract:
Involving husbands in birth preparedness and complication readiness (BP/CR) has been encouraged as a new strategy to improve maternal health for safe motherhood since 2000. Myanmar is a patriarchy society and despite the strong domination of husbands on the health of their families, their involvement in maternal health are still limited. This quasi-experimental study aimed to determine the effectiveness of ‘Men in Maternity Health’ (MiM) intervention to improve husband involvement in BP/CR and institutional delivery for safe motherhood in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar. Total 198 husbands of pregnant women were included (99 husbands from each Township): Lewe Township as study group and Takkone Township control group. Face to face interview using interviewer administered questionnaire was carried out to collect the data. The data was analyzed by independent t-test to compare the continuous variables between study and control groups including within group comparison by paired t-test. Pearson’s Chi-square test was used to compare the difference of categorical variables. After ‘MiM’ programme, there were significantly changes in husbands’ knowledge (p=0.001) and attitude (p=0.04) between study and control groups. Husbands in both groups were more likely to involve indirectly as financial support than direct involvement as planning skilled birth attendant and blood donor in case of emergency for their wives before give birth. In study group, husbands’ involvement in BP/CR improved significantly (p<0.001). Institutional delivery prevalence was significant difference between study and control groups, 64.6% and 39.4% respectively. In conclusion, the implementation of ‘MiM’ programme for promoting partner involvement in BP/CR and institutional delivery among pregnant women couples can enhance the benefits for safe motherhood.
