Department of International Health, Section for Health and Society, Faculty of Medicine, University of Oslo, Blindern, Oslo 0318, Norway.
Reprod Health. 2011 Dec 2;8:36. doi: 10.1186/1742-4755-8-36.
Understanding the strategies that health care providers employ in order to invite men to participate in maternal health care is very vital especially in today's dynamic cultural environment. Effective utilization of such strategies is dependent on uncovering the salient issues that facilitate male participation in maternal health care. This paper examines and describes the strategies that were used by different health care facilities to invite husbands to participate in maternal health care in rural and urban settings of southern Malawi.
The data was collected through in-depth interviews from sixteen of the twenty health care providers from five different health facilities in rural and urban settings of Malawi. The health facilities comprised two health centres, one district hospital, one mission hospital, one private hospital and one central hospital. A semi-structured interview guide was used to collect data from health care providers with the aim of understanding strategies they used to invite men to participate in maternal health care.
Four main strategies were used to invite men to participate in maternal health care. The strategies were; health care provider initiative, partner notification, couple initiative and community mobilization. The health care provider initiative and partner notification were at health facility level, while the couple initiative was at family level and community mobilization was at village (community) level. The community mobilization had three sub-themes namely; male peer initiative, use of incentives and community sensitization. The sustainability of each strategy to significantly influence behaviour change for male participation in maternal health care is discussed.
Strategies to invite men to participate in maternal health care were at health facility, family and community levels. The couple strategy was most appropriate but was mostly used by educated and city residents. The male peer strategy was effective and sustainable at community level. There is need for creation of awareness in men so that they sustain their participation in maternal health care activities of their female partners even in the absence of incentives, coercion or invitation.
了解医疗保健提供者为邀请男性参与孕产妇保健而采用的策略至关重要，尤其是在当今动态的文化环境中。有效利用这些策略取决于揭示促进男性参与孕产妇保健的突出问题。本文考察并描述了马拉维南部农村和城市地区的不同医疗保健机构用来邀请丈夫参与孕产妇保健的策略。
数据是通过对来自马拉维农村和城市地区的五个不同医疗保健机构的 16 名医疗保健提供者进行深入访谈收集的。这些医疗保健机构包括两个医疗中心、一个地区医院、一个传教医院、一个私立医院和一个中心医院。使用半结构化访谈指南从医疗保健提供者那里收集数据，旨在了解他们用来邀请男性参与孕产妇保健的策略。
使用了四种主要策略来邀请男性参与孕产妇保健。这些策略包括：医疗保健提供者的主动行动、伴侣通知、夫妻主动行动和社区动员。医疗保健提供者的主动行动和伴侣通知是在医疗机构层面，而夫妻主动行动是在家庭层面，社区动员是在村庄（社区）层面。社区动员有三个次主题：男性同伴倡议、使用激励措施和社区宣传。讨论了每种策略对显著影响男性参与孕产妇保健行为改变的可持续性。
邀请男性参与孕产妇保健的策略在医疗机构、家庭和社区层面都有。夫妻策略最合适，但大多被受过教育的城市居民使用。男性同伴策略在社区层面是有效的和可持续的。需要在男性中提高认识，以便他们在没有激励、强制或邀请的情况下，能够维持对其女性伴侣的孕产妇保健活动的参与。
