Perception of pregnant women on barriers to male involvement in antenatal care in Sekondi, Ghana

Getting men to be actively involved in Antenatal Care (ANC) has been acknowledged by the World Health Organisation as a key indicator for better maternal health outcomes. We investigated the perception of women about barriers to male involvement in ANC in Sekondi, Ghana. Dwelling on cross-sectional design, we used a sample of 300 pregnant women (adolescents excluded) who had ever attended ANC in five fishing communities in Sekondi. The study was underpinned by a conceptual framework adapted from Doe's conceptual framework of male partner involvement in maternity care. We used questionnaire for the data collection. Both descriptive-frequencies and percentages; and inferential-binary logistic regression analyses were carried out. Seven out of ten (70%) participants indicated high male involvement in ANC. Respondents whose partners were aged 50–59 were less likely to report high male involvement in ANC compared to those whose partners were aged 20–29 years (OR = 0.47, 95% CI = [0.35–0.86], p = 0.03). Those living together with their partners were about two times more likely to report high male involvement in ANC compared to those who did not live with their partners (OR = 1.63, 95% CI = [1.18–3.19], p = 0.01). Participants who identified long waiting time at the health facility as a determinant of male involvement in ANC were less likely to report high male involvement in ANC compared to those who disagreed (OR = 0.57, 95% CI = [0.38–0.85], p = 0.01). The outcome of our study calls for male partner friendly policy driven environment at the various ANC visit points that would make men more comfortable to accompany their partners in accessing ANC services.