Bougangue Bassoumah, Ling How Kee
Faculty of Social Sciences, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia.
BMC Public Health. 2017 Sep 6;17(1):693. doi: 10.1186/s12889-017-4680-2.
The need to promote maternal health in Ghana has committed the government to extend maternal healthcare services to the door steps of rural families through the community-based Health Planning and Services. Based on the concerns raised in previous studies that male spouses were indifferent towards maternal healthcare, this study sought the views of men on their involvement in maternal healthcare in their respective communities and at the household levels in the various Community-based Health Planning and Services zones in Awutu-Senya West District in the Central Region of Ghana.
A qualitative method was employed. Focus groups and individual interviews were conducted with married men, community health officers, community health volunteers and community leaders. The participants were selected using purposive, quota and snowball sampling techniques. The study used thematic analysis for analysing the data.
The study shows varying involvement of men, some were directly involved in feminine gender roles; others used their female relatives and co-wives to perform the women's roles that did not have space for them. They were not necessarily indifferent towards maternal healthcare, rather, they were involved in the spaces provided by the traditional gender division of labour. Amongst other things, the perpetuation and reinforcement of traditional gender norms around pregnancy and childbirth influenced the nature and level of male involvement.
Sustenance of male involvement especially, husbands and CHVs is required at the household and community levels for positive maternal outcomes. Ghana Health Service, health professionals and policy makers should take traditional gender role expectations into consideration in the planning and implementation of maternal health promotion programmes.
加纳政府致力于通过社区卫生规划与服务将孕产妇保健服务延伸至农村家庭，以促进孕产妇健康。鉴于以往研究提出男性配偶对孕产妇保健漠不关心，本研究旨在了解加纳中部地区阿武图-塞尼亚西区各社区卫生规划与服务区域内男性在各自社区及家庭层面参与孕产妇保健的看法。
采用定性研究方法。对已婚男性、社区卫生官员、社区卫生志愿者和社区领袖进行了焦点小组讨论和个人访谈。参与者采用目的抽样、配额抽样和滚雪球抽样技术选取。本研究使用主题分析法对数据进行分析。
研究表明男性的参与程度各不相同，一些男性直接参与女性角色；另一些男性则利用女性亲属和妾来履行他们无法参与的女性角色。他们并非对孕产妇保健漠不关心，而是参与到传统性别分工所提供的空间中。除此之外，围绕怀孕和分娩的传统性别规范的延续和强化影响了男性参与的性质和程度。
为实现积极的孕产妇健康结果，需要在家庭和社区层面维持男性的参与，特别是丈夫和社区卫生志愿者的参与。加纳卫生服务局、卫生专业人员和政策制定者在规划和实施孕产妇健康促进项目时应考虑传统性别角色期望。
