Assessment of the knowledge and practice toward male’s participation during their wives’ prenatal and postnatal care at King Saudi Medical City, Riyadh: KSA

BACKGROUND: Access to skilled health care services during pregnancy, childbirth, and postnatal period for obstetric care is one of the strongest determinants of maternal and newborn health outcomes. The main objective of the present study is to assess the knowledge and practice toward male’s participation during their wives’ prenatal and postnatal care at King Saud Medical City. METHODS: We conducted a single center, a quantitative, cross-sectional study based on a personal-interviewed structured questionnaire in 2019 adopting a stratified random sampling technique. Married men above 18 years with at least one child were interviewed using a structured questionnaire. RESULTS: The knowledge level was positive and moderately correlated with the practice on prenatal and postnatal care r = +0.641(P = 0.000) and was statistically significant. There was a significant difference between pregnancy intention and level of education (P = 0.000). The score of knowledge and practice increased with the increase in the number of children. CONCLUSION: Socioeconomic factor was the major determinant for men’s knowledge and practice in maternal and newborn health services. In the future, studies with a large sample size are required to increase men’s awareness regarding MNH issues, but should not be limited to this.