Husband/partner involvement as a companion of choice during labor and childbirth in Nigeria: A qualitative study

Lorretta Favour Chizomam Ntoimo^1,2*, Vivian I. Onoh³, Christiana Alake Alex-Ojei¹, Beatrice Damilola Adeoye⁴, Olutayo A. Adebayo⁵, Friday E. Okonofua^2,3

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¹ Department of Demography and Social Statistics, Faculty of Social Sciences, Federal University Oye-Ekiti, Oye-Ekiti, Ekiti State, Nigeria

² Women’s Health and Action Research Centre (WHARC), Benin, Edo State, Nigeria

³ Centre of Excellence in Reproductive Health Innovation (CERHI), University of Benin, Benin, Edo State, Nigeria

⁴ Department of Sociology, Faculty of Social Sciences, Federal University Oye-Ekiti, Oye-Ekiti, Ekiti State, Nigeria

⁵ Department of Criminology and Security Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ilorin, Kwara State, Nigeria

IJPS, 025500198 https://doi.org/10.36922/IJPS025500198

Received: 11 December 2025 | Revised: 27 February 2026 | Accepted: 28 February 2026 | Published online: 1 April 2026

© 2026 by the Author(s). This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ )

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Abstract

Having a husband/partner as a companion of choice (COC) throughout labor and delivery is an intervention for improving women’s birth experience and outcomes. Despite these advantages, experiences of husband/partner involvement as a COC in Nigeria remain poorly documented. We conducted a qualitative study to explore the experiences of men and women in a union who had recently experienced husbands/partners involvement as a COC during labor and childbirth. A total of 31 in-depth interviews were conducted in two states in Nigeria. All interviews were tape-recorded, transcribed verbatim, and thematically analyzed using the hybrid approach with the aid of NVivo, a qualitative data analysis software. Three broad themes emerged from the narratives: (i) the process and practice of male involvement as a COC, (ii) the benefits of male involvement as a COC, and (iii) the disadvantages. The process and practice included male COC participation as either an unwritten rule or optional, no prior preparation, insistence on presence, voluntary participation/joint choice, primarily a role of emotional support, and motives beyond promoting a positive birth experience. The benefits revolved around compassion and empathy, postpartum support, curbing intimate partner violence and son preference, facilitated/smoother delivery, and acceptance of family planning. Participants expressed disadvantages such as the potential to induce intimate partner violence and postpartum sexual strain. The findings provide valuable insights for policy development in Nigeria to harness the benefits of male involvement as COC during labor and childbirth and minimize the disadvantages.

Keywords

Labor

Childbirth

Companion of choice

Male involvement

Nigeria

Funding

This research was funded by the Centre of Excellence in Reproductive Health Innovation (CERHI), University of Benin, Benin City, Nigeria. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

Conflict of interest

Lorretta Favour Chizomam Ntoimo is the Section Editor of this journal, but was not in any way involved in the editorial and peer-review process conducted for this paper, directly or indirectly. Separately, other authors declared that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have influenced the work reported in this paper.

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