Male involvement in family planning and its association with knowledge and spouse discussion in Ethiopia: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to estimate the pooled prevalence of male involvement in family planning (FP) and its association with knowledge and spouse discussion in Ethiopia.

DESIGN: Systematic review and meta-analysis using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Protocols guidelines.

DATA SOURCES: The study was conducted by the articles searched from different databases: (PubMed, Cochrane Library, PsycINFO, HINARI and Google Scholar).

ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA FOR SELECTING STUDIES: This research encompassed investigations carried out within married couples in Ethiopia, specifically focusing on studies where male involvement in FP was the primary outcome. The inclusion criteria comprised studies with an observational study design, encompassing both published and unpublished works, conducted in the English language, with no restrictions on data collection and publication year.

DATA EXTRACTION AND SYNTHESIS: Following a systematic search of the articles, two independent authors assessed the quality of the studies, and data extraction was conducted using Microsoft Excel. The data analysis was performed by using STATA V.17. The overall level of male involvement in FP in Ethiopia was calculated using DerSimonian and Liard's random-effect model, with a significance level set at a p<0.05. Heterogeneity was examined using the I2 test, and Egger's test was employed to assess publication bias.

RESULTS: The pooled prevalence of male involvement in FP in Ethiopia was 59.71% (95% CI (47.68% to 71.73%)). Good knowledge regarding FP (AOR 6.63, 95% CI (2.58 to 17.03)) and spouse discussion on FP (AOR 4.36, 95% CI (2.50 to 7.59)) were significantly associated with male involvement in FP.

CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of male involvement in FP in Ethiopia was low as compared with other literature conducted outside Ethiopia. Both good knowledge and spouse discussion regarding FP were significantly associated with male involvement in FP. So, the government and healthcare providers should focus on interventions that could increase their knowledge through different media. In addition, encouraging couples to have a discussion regarding FP could be a recalled intervention for healthcare providers.