Knowledge and Attitude of Husband on the Preparation of Motherhood of Their Wives during the Pregnancy: A Hospital-based Cross-sectional Study

Abstract

Background: Preparation of motherhood (POM) is an intermediate process of active, conscious, and positive participation that favors the transition towards motherhood. Husband has a huge role in POM of his wife/partner. Their support and contribution are crucial for having a healthy infant. Hence, the husband should be knowledgeable, and share the responsibility with the wife in the critical milestone of women’s lives. This eventually leads to better pregnancy outcomes and a healthy generation. Objective: To assess the knowledge and attitude of husbands on the POM of their wives during the pregnancy who attend the antenatal clinics (ANC) of Teaching Hospital Mahamodara (THM) Methods: A hospital-based cross-sectional study was carried out with the participation of 310 conveniently selected husbands of pregnant women who attended the ANC of THM during pregnancy. A pre-tested self-administered questionnaire with close ended questions was administered that included 35 questions to evaluate the knowledge and eight statements to evaluate attitudes. Knowledge was categorized into three levels (poor; 0-12 marks, average; 13-24 marks and good; 25-35 marks). Descriptive statistics, independent sample t-test and one-way ANOVA test were used to analyse data using SPSS version 26.0. Results: Mean(±SD) age of the participants was 20.40 (±0.61) years old. Participants were well aware about the clinic visits, investigations, nutrition, rest, breastfeeding, danger signs and mental well-being while they had comparatively less awareness on nutritional supplementation, sexual activities, and minor complications. Mean (±SD) knowledge score of the participant was 25.38 (±4.88). Among the participants, 57.4 % (n=178) had good knowledge while 41.3 % (n=128) had average level of knowledge and only 1.3 % (n=4) had poor level of knowledge on POM. Husband’s level of knowledge was only associated with number of children in the family (p=0.018) and trimester of pregnancy of wife (p<0.001). Higher mean score of husband’s knowledge of POM was seen in the families with higher number of children and advanced (3rd) trimester. All the study participants (100%) had positive attitudes regarding the POM. Conclusions: Husbands of expectant mothers attending ANC of THM had a good level of knowledge and positive attitudes regarding the POM. However, comparatively a less awareness was seen on nutritional supplementation, sexual activities, and minor complications. These aspects need to be addressed in improving the better pregnancy outcomes and husband-wife relationship during the pregnancy period.