Immigrant men 's perceptions and experiences of accompanying their partner for contraceptive counselling provided by midwives in Sweden- a qualitative study.


Journal

PloS one
ISSN: 1932-6203
Titre abrégé: PLoS One
Pays: United States
ID NLM: 101285081

Informations de publication

Date de publication:
2024
Historique:
received: 26 02 2023
accepted: 29 11 2023
medline: 3 1 2024
pubmed: 3 1 2024
entrez: 2 1 2024
Statut: epublish

Résumé

Male involvement in maternal health care has proven to be beneficial for improving maternal and child health and is often crucial in areas of family planning and contraceptive use. However, compared to male involvement in maternal health care, male involvement in contraceptive counselling is complex and controversial and thus faces certain challenges. Immigrant men in Sweden are often accompanying their partner for contraceptive counselling. Little is known about their presence and role. To explore how immigrant men from the Middle East and Afghanistan perceive and experience accompanying their partner for contraceptive counselling provided by midwives in Sweden. Inductive qualitative content analysis guided the interpretation of data based on 21 individual in-depth interviews. Balancing conflicting values and norms about sexual and reproductive health and rights including family planning was challenging and confusing when living in Sweden. Contraceptive counselling was perceived as a joint visit, and men were often acting as decision makers. The midwife's role as a contraceptive counsellor was perceived as trusted, but knowledge was lacking about the Swedish midwifery model and the Swedish healthcare system. Providers' ways of communicating sensitive information were crucial. Without marriage contraceptive counselling was unthinkable. Highlighting male engagement and including men's sexual and reproductive health at policy levels are necessary for improving women's sexual and reproductive health and rights. Additional and new ways of contraceptive counselling and midwifery services, such as outreach work and joint visits, are needed in order to reach both men and women.

Sections du résumé

BACKGROUND BACKGROUND
Male involvement in maternal health care has proven to be beneficial for improving maternal and child health and is often crucial in areas of family planning and contraceptive use. However, compared to male involvement in maternal health care, male involvement in contraceptive counselling is complex and controversial and thus faces certain challenges. Immigrant men in Sweden are often accompanying their partner for contraceptive counselling. Little is known about their presence and role.
AIM OBJECTIVE
To explore how immigrant men from the Middle East and Afghanistan perceive and experience accompanying their partner for contraceptive counselling provided by midwives in Sweden.
METHODS METHODS
Inductive qualitative content analysis guided the interpretation of data based on 21 individual in-depth interviews.
FINDINGS RESULTS
Balancing conflicting values and norms about sexual and reproductive health and rights including family planning was challenging and confusing when living in Sweden. Contraceptive counselling was perceived as a joint visit, and men were often acting as decision makers. The midwife's role as a contraceptive counsellor was perceived as trusted, but knowledge was lacking about the Swedish midwifery model and the Swedish healthcare system. Providers' ways of communicating sensitive information were crucial. Without marriage contraceptive counselling was unthinkable.
CONCLUSION CONCLUSIONS
Highlighting male engagement and including men's sexual and reproductive health at policy levels are necessary for improving women's sexual and reproductive health and rights. Additional and new ways of contraceptive counselling and midwifery services, such as outreach work and joint visits, are needed in order to reach both men and women.

Identifiants

pubmed: 38165872
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0295796
pii: PONE-D-23-05667
doi:

Types de publication

Journal Article

Langues

eng

Sous-ensembles de citation

IM

Pagination

e0295796

Informations de copyright

Copyright: © 2024 Kolak et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Auteurs

Mia Kolak (M)

Division of Social Medicine and Global Health, Department of Clinical Sciences, Lund University, Malmö, Sweden.
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Skane University Hospital, Malmö, Lund, Sweden.

Anette Agardh (A)

Department of Clinical Sciences Lund, Lund University, Lund, Sweden.

Christine Rubertsson (C)

Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Skane University Hospital, Malmö, Lund, Sweden.
Department of Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Lund University, Lund, Sweden.

Stefan R Hansson (SR)

Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Skane University Hospital, Malmö, Lund, Sweden.
Department of Clinical Sciences Lund, Lund University, Malmö, Sweden.

Maria Ekstrand Ragnar (M)

Department of Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Lund University, Lund, Sweden.
Department of Women's and Children's Health, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden.

Classifications MeSH