Attitudes and perceptions towards postpartum contraceptive use among seroconcordant partners with HIV in rural Mozambique: a qualitative study

BACKGROUND: Postpartum contraceptive uptake reduces short interpregnancy intervals, unintended pregnancies, and their negative sequalae: poor maternal and fetal outcomes. Healthy timing and spacing of pregnancy in people living with HIV (PLHIV) also allows time to achieve viral suppression to reduce parent-to-child HIV transmission. There is scant understanding about how couples-based interventions impact postpartum contraceptive uptake among PLHIV in sub-Saharan Africa. METHODS: We interviewed 38 recently pregnant people and 26 of their partners enrolled in the intervention arm of the Homens para Saúde Mais (HoPS+) [Men for Health Plus] trial to assess their perceptions of, attitudes towards, and experiences with contraceptive use. Individuals in the HoPS+ intervention arm received joint—as opposed to individual—HIV-related services during pregnancy and postpartum periods, six counseling and skills sessions, and nine sessions with a peer support couple. Our thematic analysis of the 64 in-depth interviews generated 14 deductive codes and 3 inductive codes across themes within the Information, Motivation, and Behavior Model of health behavior change. RESULTS: Participants reported accurate and inaccurate information about birth spacing and contraceptive methods. They described personal (health, economic, and religious) and social (gender norms, desired number of children) motivations for deciding whether to use contraceptives—with slightly different motivations among pregnant and non-pregnant partners. Finally, they explained the skills needed to overcome barriers to contraceptive use including how engagement in HoPS+ improved their shared decision-making skills and respect amongst partners—which facilitated postpartum contraceptive uptake. There were also several cases where non-pregnant partners unilaterally made family planning decisions despite disagreement from their partner. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that couples-based interventions during pregnancy and post-partum periods aimed at increasing postpartum contraceptive uptake must center pregnant partners’ desires. Specifically, pregnant partners should be allowed to titrate the level of non-pregnant partner involvement in intervention activities to avoid potentially emboldening harmful gender-based intercouple decision-making dynamics.