ABSTRACT

Background: Husband involvement is an important intervention for improving maternal health. In Ethiopia, husbands’ involvement in maternity care is understudied. This study aims to assess the magnitude and factors affect husbands’ involvement in maternal health care, in Sidama Zone, Ethiopia.

Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study with 1318 men. Data were collected using questionnaires. Descriptive and binary logistic regressions were computed using SPSS version-20.

Results: Husbands involved during antenatal, delivery and postnatal cares were 19.9%, 42.7%, and 11.8%, respectively. Number of under-five year children was a significant predictor of husbands’ involvement in the three routine cares. A strong significance association was found between offering invitation letter and husbands’ involvement during antenatal and postnatal cares. Early initiation of antenatal care, husbands’ involvement experience in antenatal care, place of residence and couple’s communication were also show significance associations with husbands’ involvement either in one or two of the routine cares.

Conclusion: Low proportion of husbands’ involved in maternity care compared to other African countries. Offering invitation letter, number of children alive, husbands’ involvement experience, couple’s communications, women’s initiation of ANC visit, and place of residence were found to be significantly associated with husbands’ involvement in maternal health care.