Diamond-Smith Nadia, Vaishnav Yogesh, Choudhary Usha, Sharma Payal, Kachhwaha Ankur, Panjalingam Tamera, Vallin Janelli, Das Debangana, Gopalakrishnan Lakshmi
University of California, San Francisco.
Vikalp.
Res Sq. 2024 May 15:rs.3.rs-4376443. doi: 10.21203/rs.3.rs-4376443/v1.
Despite decades of a call to action to engage men in reproductive health, men are often left out of programs and interventions. In India, where half of pregnancies are reported as unintended, patriarchal gender norms and still dominant patterns of arranged marriages make engaging men in family planning and strengthening couples communication critical in increasing reproductive autonomy and helping young couples meet their reproductive goals. This study explores the feasibility and acceptability from the men's perspective of the pilot of a gender transformative intervention for newly married couples in India.
A pilot study was conducted of TARANG, a 4-month intervention for newly married women, with light touch engagement of husbands (4 sessions). A total of 41 husbands participated in the pilot, and we collected baseline knowledge and endline feasibility and acceptability data from them, along with in depth qualitative interviews with 13 men. The study was conducted in June-January, 2023.
Men had low levels of knowledge about biology, family planning, with the majority of men reporting that no one had provided them information about these topics. Most men wanted to delay the first birth by at least 2 years, yet less than a quarter had discussed childbearing plans with their partner or engaged in family planning methods. While all men reported high acceptability (satisfaction and usefulness), feasibility (participation) was low, with only 43% attending 2 or more sessions. Main barriers to participation included commitments due to work and migration. Men reported that the intervention led to improvements in their relationships with their wives, gave them a sense of empowerment, and led them to become resources for other men in their community.
Men in these rural communities are not receiving the information that they need to meet their reproductive goals, however, they greatly desire this information and ways to improve relationships with their new wives. Such an intervention appears to have the potential to help change norms and spread information in the community and provide men with positive, life affirming feelings. Providing information through technology could address barriers to in-person engagement.
clinicaltrials.gov (NCT06320964), 03/13/24.
尽管数十年来一直呼吁让男性参与生殖健康，但男性往往被排除在相关项目和干预措施之外。在印度，据报告有一半的怀孕是意外怀孕，父权制性别规范以及仍然占主导地位的包办婚姻模式使得让男性参与计划生育并加强夫妻沟通对于提高生殖自主权以及帮助年轻夫妻实现生殖目标至关重要。本研究从男性的角度探讨了印度一项针对新婚夫妇的性别变革性干预试点的可行性和可接受性。
对TARANG进行了一项试点研究，这是一项针对新婚女性的为期4个月的干预措施，丈夫参与程度较低（4次课程）。共有41名丈夫参与了该试点，我们收集了他们的基线知识以及结束时的可行性和可接受性数据，同时对13名男性进行了深入的定性访谈。该研究于2023年6月至1月进行。
男性对生物学、计划生育的知识水平较低，大多数男性报告称没有人向他们提供过关于这些主题的信息。大多数男性希望将头胎生育推迟至少2年，但不到四分之一的男性与伴侣讨论过生育计划或采取过计划生育方法。虽然所有男性都报告了较高的可接受性（满意度和有用性），但可行性（参与度）较低，只有43%的人参加了2次或更多次课程。参与的主要障碍包括工作和迁移带来的事务。男性报告称，该干预措施改善了他们与妻子的关系，给了他们一种赋权感，并使他们成为社区中其他男性的资源。
这些农村社区的男性没有获得实现其生殖目标所需的信息，然而，他们非常渴望获得这些信息以及改善与新婚妻子关系的方法。这样的干预措施似乎有可能帮助改变社区规范、传播信息，并为男性带来积极的、肯定生活的感受。通过技术提供信息可以解决面对面参与的障碍。
clinicaltrials.gov（NCT06320964），2024年3月13日。
