Couples' attitudes to the husband's presence in the delivery room during childbirth

Abstract

We determined the attitudes of men and women in the Islamic Republic of Iran to the husband's presence in the delivery room. We randomly selected 150 couples awaiting delivery in 2002 and interviewed them with a standardized questionnaire. Mean ages and standard deviations (SD) of women and men were 26 (SD 4) and 30 (SD 5) years respectively. Most had high school diplomas or higher. Most women (58.1%) were employed and most men (77.6%) had non-educational jobs. Mean attitude scores were 100 (SD 15) for women and 97 (SD 16.5) for men. Attitude scores were significantly related to age, job and education (P< 0.0001). Most women (88.4%), men (82.1%) and couples (76.9%) had positive attitudes to the husband's presence in the delivery room. Providing facilities to accommodate husbands and training for their presence in the delivery room is recommended.