title: Opportunities for male involvement during pregnancy in Magu district, rural Tanzania.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Male involvement during antenatal care is promoted to be an important intervention to increase positive maternal and new born health outcomes. Despite active promotion to stimulate male involvement during antenatal care, few men in Tanzania accompany women to their antenatal care visits. This study aims to understand perceptions, attitudes and behaviour of men regarding their role and involvement during pregnancy and antenatal care visits in a rural district in Tanzania.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data collection took place in Magu District between September 2013 and March 2014, using a mixed method approach. This included observations at six government health facilities, nine focus group discussions (with a total of 76 participants) and 26 semi-structured interviews of participants, included through convenience- and snowball sampling. Additionally, a questionnaire was distributed among 156 women attending antenatal care, regarding their partners' involvement in their pregnancy. Qualitative analysis was done through coding of themes based on the Three Delays Framework. Descriptive analysis was used for quantitative data.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Male involvement in pregnancy and antenatal care in Magu district is low. Although men perceived antenatal care as important for pregnant women, most husbands had a passive attitude concerning their own involvement. Barriers for male involvement included: traditional gender roles, lack of knowledge, perceived low accessibility to join antenatal care visits and previous negative experiences in health facilities.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Although several barriers impede male involvement during antenatal care, men's internal motivation and attitudes towards their role during pregnancy was generally positive. Increasing community awareness and knowledge about the importance of male involvement and increasing accessibility of antenatal clinics can reduce some of the barriers.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Humanities EMGO, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.|African Woman Foundation, Mwanza, Magu District, Tanzania.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Vermeulen
authors.affiliation: African Woman Foundation, Mwanza, Magu District, Tanzania. a.solnesmiltenburg@gmail.com.|Department of Community Medicine, Institute of Health and Society, Medical Faculty, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway. a.solnesmiltenburg@gmail.com.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Solnes Miltenburg
authors.affiliation: African Woman Foundation, Mwanza, Magu District, Tanzania.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Barras
authors.affiliation: Project Manager Crops Marketing Bureau (CROMABU) & local Project Manager of African Woman Foundation, Magu, Mwanza, Tanzania.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Maselle
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Humanities EMGO, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: van Elteren
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands.|Athena Institute for Research on Innovation and Communication in Health and Life Sciences, VU University, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: van Roosmalen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D017144:Focus Groups; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care / Q000523:psychology*; D011247:Pregnancy; D011295:Prenatal Care / Q000523:psychology*; D036301:Qualitative Research; D012424:Rural Population; D018454:Spouses / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013636:Tanzania; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Antenatal care; Barriers to access; HIV testing; Male involvement; Maternal health; Pregnancy