Factors Associated with Intended Attendance of Paternal Childbirth Participation

Monday, 30 July 2012

Pei-Chao Lin, MS, RN
College of Nursing, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan
Chich-Hsiu Hung, PhD, RN
School of Nursing, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung City, Taiwan

Learning Objective 1: The learner will be able to know Taiwan’s couples' intentions of paternal childbirth participation in the prenatal period.

Learning Objective 2: The learner will be able to know the related factors associated with intended attendance of paternal childbirth participation.

Purpose: To identify the related factors associated with intended attendance of paternal childbirth participation.

Methods: This is a cross-sectional predictive study. A purposive sample of 199 pairs of couples with pregnant women and their husbands was recruited in a medical center of southern Taiwan. Structured questionnaires on sociodemographic characteristics and intended attendance of paternal childbirth participation, the social support index, and marital intimacy questionnaire were administered at 36 weeks gestational age for women and their husbands.

Results: Both the women’s and their husbands’ preference for paternal childbirth participation was more than 80%. Logistic regression analyses showed that women with a bachelor’s degree or higher were most likely to prefer their husbands’ childbirth participation. Husbands with a bachelor’s degree or higher and who perceived greater marital intimacy were most likely to choose childbirth participation.

Conclusion: This study revealed that most couples prefer paternal childbirth participation. Couples’ bachelor’s degree or higher education level and higher paternal perceived marital intimacy were prenatal predictors for husbands’ childbirth participation. A follow-up study is needed to confirm actual paternal childbirth participation and the prenatal predictors.