Background: Male involvement in
maternal health is associated with significant positive
health outcomes in the
mother . We aimed to assess the antenatal womens’
perception of their
husbands ’ involvement in
antenatal care in a
maternity hospital in rural Karnataka,
India .
Methods: 200
pregnant women in a
maternity hospital in Karnataka were interviewed using a semi-structured
pilot tested
questionnaire on their
perception about their
husbands ’ participation in
antenatal care .
Results: The mean score of
women ’s
perception of
husband ’s
awareness of
antenatal care was 10.1±2.2 out of a maximum of 12, while that of
husband ’s
attitude to
antenatal care was 7.7±1.4 out of a maximum of 9 and of
husband ’s participation was 21.7±5.4 out of a maximum of 30. The score of
perception of
husband ’s
awareness was significantly higher among multigravidae and among
women who had a
planned pregnancy . The score of
perception of
husband ’s
attitude was significantly higher among
women from
nuclear families , multigravidae, those with a living
child and those with no
complications in the current
pregnancy . The score of
perception of
husband ’s participation was significantly higher among
women with no
complications in the current
pregnancy .
Conclusions: Husbands play a vital
role in the
antenatal care of their
wives . This should be harnessed by
health care workers by providing
health education to them, encouraging
husbands to accompany their
wives to antenatal checkups and labour and promptly communicating clinical findings to them.