Impact of childbirth preparation sessions towards the willingness and ability of husbands to accompany their wives during childbirth in the delivery room

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.