Abstract

Background: Male participation, as an important strategy in achieving the millennium development goals, requires adequate information among them of maternal and newborn health topics, particularly perinatal cares. Aims and Objectives: The present study was carried out to evaluate the effects of group counseling on knowledge and attitudes of men toward participation in perinatal cares for their wives first pregnancy in Hamadan, Iran.
Materials and Methods: In this quasi-experimental study, 144 spouses of women who were pregnant for the first time were studied in two groups of 72 case and control groups. Before the intervention, knowledge and attitudes of men in two groups about perinatal cares were measured, and then for men in case group, six sessions were held with a focus on perinatal cares, and 1 month after the end of the sessions, knowledge and attitudes of men were compared.
Results: Before the intervention, 98.6% of the case group and 100% of control group had low-to-moderate level of knowledge about perinatal cares. After the intervention, only one of the men in the intervention group remained in poor knowledge level (P < 0.05), while the level of knowledge of the control group did not change (P = 0.567). On the other hand, before the intervention, 86.1% of case group and 81.9% of control group had a positive attitude to participate in perinatal cares for their wives and none of them had a poor attitude in this regard. However, after the intervention, level of positive attitude in the case group increased (95.8%), and there was a significant difference before and after intervention. Conclusion: The present study showed the impact of educational interventions to improve the knowledge and attitudes of men as one of the biggest supporters of maternal and child health. Therefore, particular attention should be given to consulting and training men in the field of perinatal cares.