Husband’s involvement with mother’s awareness and knowledge of newborn danger signs in facility-based childbirth settings: a cross-sectional study from rural Bangladesh

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to examine the association between husband involvement and maternal awareness and knowledge of newborn danger signs. This cross-sectional study was conducted in three rural hospitals of Bangladesh among the recently delivered women (RDW). RESULTS: RDW were interviewed to determine their knowledge and understanding of seven key neonatal danger signs. About 51.4% of the respondents were able to identify at least one danger sign. ‘Fever’ was the most correctly identified (43.7%), and hypothermia was the least (26.1%) identified danger sign. The factors associated with RDW possessing knowledge of at least one neonatal danger sign were: secondary education (COR: 1.3, 95% CI 1.1–1.6), increased ANC visits (COR: 1.2, 95% CI 1.1–1.3), previous history of facility delivery (COR: 1.3, 95% CI 1.1–1.4), and husband involvement in the mother’s facility delivery (COR: 1.3, 95% CI 1.1–1.5). RDW were more likely to recall at least one newborn danger sign (AOR: 1.2, 95% CI 1.1–1.4) when the husband was actively involved in his wife’s antenatal, delivery and postnatal care. In conclusion, this study found that husband involvement was significantly associated with the maternal knowledge related to identification of neonatal danger signs. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1186/s13104-018-3386-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.