Vol. 4, Issue 10, Part F (2018)

Abstract
Background: Men’s role in postnatal care is crucial in preventing maternal mortality and morbidity. This is possible only if they have appropriate attitude and involvement in postnatal and baby care. Objectives: This study was undertaken to assess attitude and involvement of men in postnatal and baby care, to find the correlation and association between these variables, and finds the association of attitude and involvement with selected demographic variables. Materials and methods: A descriptive analytical study was conducted among 85 men who brought postnatal mothers and/or babies to postnatal /immunization clinic of a tertiary care hospital in Ernakulam district were enrolled in the study. Sample was collected using convenience sampling, A structured attitude questionnaire and self-reported involvement checklist on postnatal and baby care were used to collect data regarding men’s attitude and involvement in postnatal and baby care. Results: It was revealed that majority of the subjects (82.4%) had positive attitude towards postnatal and baby care, nearly 1.2% had negative attitude and the remaining 16.4% had neutral attitude towards postnatal and baby care. About men’s involvement in postnatal and baby care, nearly half of subjects (43.9%) had poor involvement, 24.5% had good involvement and 31.6% had limited involvement. The researcher used Spearman Correlation to identify the relationship between attitude and involvement score. There was no statistically significant correlation between attitude and involvement of men in postnatal and baby care (ρ=0.167, p=0.215). Hence the hypothesis was rejected. There was significant association between attitude of men towards postnatal and newborn care and type of family to which the men belonged (χ²=15.56, p=0.00). The was no association between attitude of men in postnatal and newborn care with other selected demographic variables such as age, education, number of children, occupation, monthly family income, mode of delivery, onset of labor, duration of marital life, sex of last child, habits and whether the mother and baby were with the men during their postnatal period or not. Conclusion: This study is one of the few studies in India that has focused on exploring and identifying the level of attitude and involvement of men in postnatal and baby care.