Male partners' involvement in birth preparedness and complication readiness plan in Dale district, Sidama regional state, Ethiopia, 2021.

BACKGROUND: Male partners' involvement in birth preparedness and complication readiness plans is a key strategy to improve maternal and child health. It assists an expectant mother to make timely decisions in receiving care where service is inaccessible. Despite its significance, information is scarce about male partner involvement in birth preparedness and complication readiness plan in the study setting.

OBJECTIVE: To assess prevalence and factors associated with male partners' involvement in birth preparedness and complication readiness plan in Dale district Sidama, Ethiopia in 2021.

METHODS: A community-based survey was done from November to December, in 2021. Data were collected using a structured, pre-tested and interview administered questionnaire. A multi-stage cluster sampling was applied to recruit 634 samples. Logistic regression analysis was performed to identify factors associated with male partner involvement in birth preparedness and complication readiness plan. Adjusted odds ratios (AORs) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) of associated factors were estimated by stepwise backward likelihood ratio method.

RESULTS: 622 out of the 634 study participants completed the interview, yielding a 98.1% response rate. Prevalence of male partners' involvement in birth preparedness and complication readiness plan was 47.6% (95%CI: 44.9%, 48.9%). After adjusting the cofounding variables, factors like accompanying wives with their partners during their antenatal care visits (AOR = 2.3, 95%CI 1.5, 3.5), male partners whose wives had a history of caesarean birth (AOR = 2.1, 95%CI 1.1, 3.8), knowledge of male partners on birth preparedness and complication readiness plan (AOR = 3.5, 95%CI:3.1,6.6), presence of obstetric complications(AOR = 5.1,95%CI:4.3,11.2),primi-gravida (AOR = 2.7,95%CI:1.6,4.7), and male partners' knowledge of obstetrics complications (AOR = 3.5,95%CI,2.2,5.7) were significantly associated with male partners' involvement in birth preparedness and complication readiness plan.

CONCLUSION: This study indicates that prevalence of male partners' involvement in birth preparedness and complication readiness was low. Therefore, awareness creation should be strengthened on male involvement on birth preparedness and complication readiness plan.