Perceptions of male partners on maternal near-miss events experienced by their female partners in Rwanda.

BACKGROUND: Maternal near-miss refers to women who survive death from life-threatening obstetric complications and has various social, financial, physical, and psychological impacts on families. OBJECTIVE: To explore male partners' perceptions of maternal near-miss experienced by their female partners and the associated psychosocial impacts on their families in Rwanda. METHODS: This was a qualitative study involving 27 semi-structured in-depth interviews with male partners whose spouses experienced a maternal near-miss event. Data were analyzed using a thematic coding to generate themes from participants' responses. RESULTS: Six key themes that emerged were: male partner's support during wife's pregnancy and during maternal near-miss hospitalization, getting the initial information about the spouse's near-miss event, psychosocial impacts of spouse's near-miss, socio-economic impact of spouse's near-miss, post- maternal near-miss family dynamics, and perceived strategies to minimize the impacts of near-miss. Male partners reported emotional, social, and economic impacts as a result of their traumatic experiences. CONCLUSIONS: The impact of maternal near-miss among families in Rwanda remains an area that needs healthcare attention. The residual emotional, financial, and social consequences not only affect females, but also their male partners and their relatives. Male partners should be involved and be well-informed about their partners' conditions and the expected long-term effects of near-miss. Also, medical and psychological follow-up for both spouses is necessary for the enhancement of the health and well-being of affected households.

Women's experiences and perceptions on the impacts of maternal near miss and related complications in Rwanda: A qualitative study.

Maternal morbidity and mortality continue to emerge across the globe especially in lower-income countries. This study aimed at exploring in-depth perceptions of near-miss experiences among Rwandan women and how these experiences can be used to develop strategies for health policy implementation. Using qualitative inductive research based on grounded theory, we analyzed 27 in-depth interviews that were conducted with women with documented records of maternal near-miss events. Women were knowledgeable about pregnancy complications and the benefits of antenatal care. Near-miss events that occurred either before or during hospitalization. Women recognized their own involvement their near-miss events by delaying care seeking. They also mentioned delays due to healthcare providers delaying transfers, misdiagnosing the events, and delaying to intervene even at the time the diagnosis was made. Women acknowledged the life-saving role of outreach programs and community health workers. We believe that pregnancy outcomes would be improved in this population of women with education on pregnancy complications, training of community health workers, and sustained mentorship program.