(752) Pregnancy Health Information-Seeking Behaviors and Knowledge of Pregnancy Risks among Male Partners of Pregnant Patients

Friday, January 31, 2025

10:30 AM – 12:30 PM

Submitting Author and Presenting Author(s)

Erin Kim, BS (she/her/hers)

Medical Student
Western University of Health Sciences COMP Pomona
Los Angeles, California, United States

Coauthor(s)

JB

Joshua Bellisario, DO

Harbor-UCLA Medical Center
Los Angeles, California, United States
FD

Fanglong Dong, PhD

Western University of Health Sciences
Los Angeles, California, United States
KG

Kristina Galyon, DO

Assistant Clinical Professor
UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine Harbor-UCLA Medical Center
Los Angeles, California, United States
HS

Hindi Stohl, JD, MD

Associate Clinical Professor
UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine Harbor-UCLA Medical Center
Los Angeles, California, United States

Objective: Partners play an active role in supporting pregnant patients with prenatal and perinatal decisions, yet there are few studies on this population. This study examines the information seeking behavior and pregnancy risk knowledge of male partners of pregnant patients.

Study Design: An IRB-approved 45-question survey was administered in 2017 to male partners of pregnant patients at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center prenatal clinics. Men were interviewed one-on-one in private areas of the clinic. Statistical significance was determined using a chi-squared test with p < 0.05.

Results: 127 male partners completed the survey. 86.4% of male partners could not name one of the major pregnancy-related health risks in an open-ended question format. When asked about seven specific pregnancy-related health risks from a multiple-choice list, only 5.6% of male partners were able to identify all of them correctly. Noticeably, 41.6% were able to correctly identify the increased risk of the two most common complications: diabetes and hypertension. These findings were not associated with higher education (P = 0.5055) or fathering a prior pregnancy (P = 0.4831). When asked whether they would like more education about pregnancy, 82.1% responded yes, 40.2% of whom wanted the information from their partner’s healthcare provider. Male partners who were not interested in learning more about pregnancy had a significantly lower score of correctly reporting the seven specific pregnancy risks (P = 0.0003).

Conclusion: Our study highlights that a large percentage of male partners of pregnant women are unaware of the health risks associated with pregnancy. Additionally, male partners who are less information-seeking about pregnancy also have lower knowledge levels of pregnancy risks, underscoring the need for improved pregnancy education.