Male partners’ involvement and its associated factors in promoting skilled birth use of wives in Dire Dawa Administration, eastern Ethiopia

Abstract Background Male partner involvement in promoting skilled delivery is a process of social and behavioral change that men must undergo in order to prevent obstetric complications during childbirth. But this lacks information, and therefore, it was intended to be investigated in the study area. Methods A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted in the Dire Dawa administration, Ethiopia, from July 1 to 30, 2022, among male partners chosen using a systematic sampling technique. Data were collected through face-to-face interviews using a structured questionnaire, entered and cleaned by Epi DATA (Version 3.1), and analyzed using SPSS (Version 22). A P-value of 0.25 at bivariate to select variables for multivariate and 0.05 at multivariate with 95% confidence intervals was considered statistically significant. Results A total of 610 male partners participated, and male partners’ involvement in promoting skilled birth attendance was 51.8% (95% CI: 47.5–55.4%). The predictors were urban residence (AOR = 2.55, 95%CI: 1.75–3.73), diploma and above level of education (AOR = 2.00, 95%CI: 1.10–3.74), the perceived importance of skilled birth attendance (AOR = 1.98, 95%CI: 1.30–3.00), an antenatal care visit (AOR = 1.79, 95%CI: 1.04–3.07), and skilled birth attendance (AOR = 6.20, 95%CI: 3.4–11.33) with accompanying experiences. Conclusion Male partners' involvement in promoting their partners’ skilled birth attendance is moderate compared to other studies in Ethiopia. Stakeholders are recommended to use combined efforts to strengthen men's involvement and create continuous awareness about skilled birth utilization.