Integrating cultural norms into maternal health: Male engagement through a comprehensive caring model

Abstract

Husband involvement during pregnancy plays a crucial role in improving maternal and fetal health outcomes. However, in the Minangkabau culture, which follows a matrilineal system, such involvement is often limited by prevailing cultural norms. This study aimed to bridge cultural norms and maternal health by implementing a culturally adapted comprehensive caring training model to increase male involvement during pregnancy. This quantitative study employed a pre-experimental one-group pretest– posttest design involving 92 husbands of pregnant women in Lubuk Alung, Batang Anai, and Empat Koto Aur Melintang, West Sumatra, Indonesia. Data on husband involvement were collected before and after the intervention, covering five domains: emotional, informational, physical, participation, and social-spiritual support. Before the intervention, husband involvement was highest in the emotional domain (mean score = 10.07) and lowest in the physical domain (mean score = 7.87). After the training, significant improvements were observed across all domains: emotional (11.93), informational (11.59), physical (11.24), participation (10.93), and social-spiritual (10.67) (all p < 0.05). The comprehensive caring training model effectively enhanced husband involvement in various aspects of pregnancy care, including emotional, financial, informational, social-spiritual, and physical support. This culturally tailored intervention shows promise for improving maternal health outcomes and is recommended as a model for culture-based health strategies to reduce maternal and infant mortality in Indonesia. (Afr J Reprod Health 2026; 30 [2]: 70-80).