Socio-cultural factors impacting male involvement in the management of infertile couples at the Kenyatta National Hospital

Abstract

Objective: To determine socio-economic and cultural factors that may influence male participation in the management of infertility.
Design: A hospital based cross-sectional descriptive study.
Setting: Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH), Nairobi, Kenya.
Subjects: One hundred and sixty three infertile couples attending gynaecological and infertility clinics at the Kenyatta National Hospital.
Main outcome measures: The socioeconomic and cultural factors that may influence male participation in the management of the infertile couples attending the KNH Infertility Clinic.
Results: A total of 163 women and 34 men were recruited into the study. At least 114 (69.9%) of the women who participated were ever accompanied to the clinic by their spouses. There was no statistical significance between accompanied and unaccompanied women in terms of education and employment. Majority of the male participants (55.9%) had received pressure from the community to get children.
Conclusion: There is need to address the negative pressure from family and community about a couple’s childlessness.