Study the Effectiveness of Health Education Intervention in Improving Male Involvement in Maternal Health Care

Author: Manasi V. Shelgaonkar, K.V. Somasundaram and Manmohan Sharma

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Abstract

Dissemination of the knowledge about maternal health care among husbands and a positive gender attitude can lead to the optimization of healthcare service utilization and help in reducing the delay in deciding to seek care from skilled healthcare professionals. To Study the effectiveness of health education intervention in improving male involvement in maternal health care. A Prospective Longitudinal Case-Control Study was conducted in the Gynaecology OPD of a tertiary care hospital in a rural setting of district Ahmednagar, Maharashtra. The sample size was determined using Epi Info software, resulting in 199 participants for both the intervention and control groups. Probability sampling method - simple random sampling was used to select the participants for the study. The study subjects included were the husbands of the primigravida and multigravida pregnant females in the third trimester. Data collection was done using predesigned, validated, and standardized questionnaire. The mean difference between the knowledge level of pre-test and post-test intervention of antenatal care is 10 for multigravida and 8.93 for primigravida. There is a significant improvement in the knowledge of maternal health care. The effect size of the intervention was calculated by Cohen’s d which is 0.5. Husbands who have some knowledge of maternal health were more likely to use maternal health care services. It is crucial to have a policy for Male Involvement in Maternal Health Care and make the husband's presence obligatory during maternal and child health care. Health education intervention contributed in the improvement of pre-existing knowledge of men about maternal health care and created interest among them to further participate in MNCH. The major challenge faced during the study was that many female patients were being accompanied by female relative and not husbands which created a great difficulty in finding the study samples. Many husbands of multigravida were busy taking care of their infants and hence could not participate in the study.

Keywords

Maternal Health Care, Male Involvement, Educational intervention Package, Primigravida, Multigravida

Conclusion

Knowledge retention at the post-intervention assessment has shown a remarkable difference. This indicates that the intervention had an impact on improving men's core knowledge on various aspects of maternal health care. Involving men in maternal and child health care will have a huge impact on reducing maternal, infant, and child mortality and morbidity.

References

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How to cite this article

Manasi V. Shelgaonkar, K.V. Somasundaram and Manmohan Sharma (2023). Study the Effectiveness of Health Education Intervention in Improving Male Involvement in Maternal Health Care. Biological Forum – An International Journal, 15(5): 433-440.