Male Partner's Role during Pregnancy , Labour and Delivery : Expectations of Pregnant Women in Nigeria

OBJECTIVESTo evaluate the expectations of pregnant women on the role of the male partner during conception and delivery.METHODOLOGYA prospective multi-centre observational study comprising 506 pregnant women at eight health facilities in Ilorin, Nigeria from January to June 2014. Consenting women were recruited at antenatal clinics using multistage purposive sampling and a self-administered questionnaire was administered with provision for interpreters in local dialects for those without western education. The data was analyzed using SPSS using percentages and chi-square test; p <0.05 was termed significant.RESULTSParticipants were aged 17 to 49 years (mean 30.23±4.81), 82.4% desire male partners company during antenatal clinic visits and 59.1% experienced this in index pregnancy. During labour and delivery, 427(84.4%) want company; 345(80.8%) chose the male partner with 211(57.7%) hoping men will appreciate the value of females afterwards although 27.9% feared the men may disturb the health workers, 72(14.2%) male partners attended previous delivery and 84.8% of the women were satisfied with the experience. Significant predictors of support for male partner's presence at delivery were maternal age (p=0.001), secondary or higher education (p=0.001) and parity less than four (p=0.001); religion (x(2)1.010; p>0.001) and social status (p>0.001) were statistically insignificant. Pregnant women wanted education for male partners on care of pregnant women (77.0%) and sex during conception (25.2%).CONCLUSIONParturient desire male partners' presence at deliveries but their past participation was low; health facility modifications and education for men are required to meet the desires.