BY: ASTER DURE (BSC NURSING)

Abstract

ABSTRACT Introduction: Though male partner involvement in antenatal care is highly encouraged by world health organization, their participation remains far below the expected range. There is scarcity of evidence on male partner involvement in antenatal care in Ethiopia. Therefore, this study was going to assess the male partner involvement in antenatal care and associated factors in chencha town, southern Ethiopia. Objective: To assess the prevalence of male partner involvement in antenatal care and associated factors in Chencha town, Southern Ethiopia. Methods: A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted in Chencha town from April 1–30, 2022. The data was collected from 560 respondents using pretested and structured questionnaires. Open data kit software was used for data collection. Descriptive and inferential statistical analysis was done by using IBM SPSS Statistical Software Version 25 and results were presented accordingly. P-values less than 0.25 were used to detect candidate variables for the final model to identify independent factors associated with the male partner’s ANC involvement. Model fitness was tested using the Hosmer and Lemeshow goodness of fit test and the value was 0.8. Result: Prevalence of male partner involvement in antenatal care was 57%, (95% CI: 53% to 61%). Male partner involvement in ANC was associated with age category of 20-29 (AOR=2.602 95% CI=1.261-5.3670), educational status of husbands with more than secondary level (AOR=2.042 95% CI= 1.075-3.879), government employee (AOR=2.025 95% CI=1.117- 3.673), husbands with information on male partner involvement in ANC (AOR= 4.373 95% CI =2.769-6.905) and husbands with good knowledge of pregnancy danger sign (AOR= 2.550 95% CI=1.618-4.019). Conclusion and Recommendation: Fifty-seven percent of all participants (nearly three out of five respondents) were involved in antenatal care in the study area. Further qualitative studies should be conducted in the future to dig out the real life experiences of husbands in the community regarding male partner involvement in antenatal care. Key-words: Male involvement, Antenatal care, Ethiopi