Exploring Husband's Attitude Towards Involvement in his Wife's Antenatal Care in Urban Slum Community of Mumbai

BACKGROUND: Developing countries continue to have a high maternal mortality ratio. Antenatal care (ANC) has been termed as one of the “four pillars” of safe motherhood by the World Health Organization. Male involvement has been recognized as having a great impact on women's utilization of maternal health-care service. OBJECTIVES: The objective was to assess husband's knowledge and attitude toward their involvement in ANC and to determine factors that influence husband's attitude toward involvement in ANC. METHODOLOGY: A community-based observational cross-sectional study on husbands of pregnant women enrolled in an urban health center located in the Malvani slum community of Mumbai with a sample size of 86 was undertaken. RESULTS: The study findings revealed that majority of the husbands 67.4% had a positive attitude, whereas 32.6% had a negative attitude toward involvement in ANC. Knowledge of the husbands regarding early registration of pregnancy, tetanus toxoid, routine blood investigations, and increased dietary requirements were 35%, 45%, 51%, and 65%, respectively. Husband's level of education, their occupation type, distance of health facility from home, length of time spent at health-care facility, and attitude of health-care providers affect the attitude toward involvement in their wife's ANC. CONCLUSION: Changes in husband's knowledge and attitude about ANC are necessary conditions required to detect pregnancy-related complications at the earliest and for prompt referral.