ABSTRACT
Background and Objective: Most Fathers-to-be within Indian setting find it difficult to cooperate with their spouse抯 labour and encounter a great deal of stress during the journey of Childbirth. The study objective is to assess the impact of Childbirth preparation sessions (CPS) in a private maternity centre at Chennai towards shaping the willingness and attitudes of fathers-to be regarding their willingness and ability to accompany their wives during childbirth in the delivery room and to compare the attitudes with those fathers who did not attend the Childbirth preparation sessions. Materials and methods: A pilot study was conducted between October 2022 to January 2023 at a tertiary maternity hospital in a metropolitan city (Chennai) with a convenient sample of fathers-to-be who attended (Group 1, n=30) CPS and those who did not attend (Group 2, n =30). A questionnaire was given to fathers who had less than 2 year old child to analyze the difference in willingness and ability to go to the labour room among those who attended child birth preparation sessions and those who did not. Results: All men were well educated Indians and the mean age of men who attended childbirth preparation sessions were 33 years and most of them were fathers-to-be for the first time. The results showed that fathers-to-be who attended the childbirth preparation sessions were more likely to express willingness to attend labour room. Though majority of men (51 men out of 60) were willing to go to the labour room, only 47 men were able to go to the labour room out of which 28 had attended the CPS. There was a high significance in their ability to go to the labour room among those who attended the CPS (P-value - 0.010). Conclusions: The preliminary results of this pilot study indicated that a well-structured and delivered CPS could not only enhance the shared role of fathers-to-be in the critical childbirth journey but also provide them with adequate psychosocial support.
ABSTRACT
There is a paucity of scientifi c information about safe sex practices of Indians immigrants living in popular multicultural nations such as Australia. An online survey of adult Indian men living in Australia was conducted to measure the frequency of use of safe sex practices using the Safe Sex Behavior Questionnaire (SSBQ). Among the respondents of the SSBQ (n = 184), 16.8% (n = 31) reported that never insist on condom use, when having sexual intercourse. One in two men surveyed, agreed that it is diffi cult for them to discuss safe sex issues with their sexual partners. One in two men said that they used alcoholic beverages prior to or during sexual intercourse. There were no signifi cant differences in SSBQ data among Indian men based on their relationship status. The current study has assessed a range of safe sex practices by involving a community sample of Indian men, and provides baseline data for further evaluation and comparison.