Views and Opinions of Mothers and husbands Towards the Presence of Husbands in the Labour Ward s during ChildBirth.

Abstract

ABSTARCT Poor obstetric care contributes significantly to high maternal mortality rate(MMR) in developing countries. In Uganda MMR is estimated at 506/100,000 live births compared to 27/100,000 live birth in developed countries (safe motherhood issue 1998). Labour, the end result of pregnancy is an event with psychological, social and emotional meaning for the mothers and their families. The practice in Uganda hospitals restricts male partners or companions from entering the labour wards; mothers are not able to communicate with their relatives except by transmitting a message through the health workers. This research has been done to assess the views of mothers toward the presence of their husbands in the labour ward during childbirth. The general objective of the study was to study the views and opinions of mothers and fathers towards the presence of husbands in the labour ward during childbirth. The specific objectives included the; (1) Assessing the knowledge of mothers and fathers about the benefits of presence of husbands during childbirth. (2) Ascertaining reasons why husbands were reluctant to accompany their wives in the labour. (3) To determine views and opinions of mothers and fathers towards presence of husband in the labour ward. The study was a cross-sectional descriptive done using pretested semi-structured questionnaire covering socio-demographic, views and opinions and knowledge domains. It was conducted in upper Mulago hospital postnatal ward (UMHPNW) within Mulago hospital, a national referral hospital located 5km north of Kampala city, Uganda’s capital city. Questionnaires were distributed to 78 postnatal mothers and 20 fathers using purposive sampling method. Data was analyzed and findings revealed that a significant number of fathers and mothers were ignorant about the benefit of the presence of husbands in the labour ward during childbirth and hence the idea of husbands access to the labour ward was totally new. In a nutshell, there is a need for the ministry of health (MOH) and health organizations in general to initiate perinatal studies involving males together with their wives at antenatal clinics. The study should focus on the care of women in pregnancy and labour, and also the importance of husbands in labour so as to minimize this ignorance.