Sexual and Reproductive Health: The Impact of Technological and Communicational Advances on the Male Role

Introduction

The International Conference on Population and Development (CIPD), held in Cairo in 1994, considered Sexual and Reproductive Health to mean a state of complete well-being (physical, mental and social), and took into account not merely the absence of disease or illness, but all aspects relating to the reproductive system. Such a conception means that individuals must have a compensating and safe sexual life, and the capacity for reproduction when and how often they decide. This last condition assumes the right of every man and woman to have safe access to family planning and contraceptive methods of their choice, and also the right of every woman to access healthcare adequate to ensuring a safe pregnancy and childbirth. It also involves establishing the best opportunities for parents to raise healthy children (DGS, 2008).

For that purpose, family planning is now a priority in the area of healthcare relating to Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH). The absence of good family planning exposes both women and men to risk, making them more vulnerable to ill-health.

In Portugal, the Health Ministry’s family planning programmes have traditionally been included on the Programme of Sexual and Reproductive Health, and the services of Reproductive Health have largely been concerned with women. However, the involvement of men is crucial to the promotion of equal opportunities in health. The main objective of the CIPD (1994) was the promotion of gender equality in all scopes of life, challenging and encouraging men to assume responsibility for their sexual and reproductive behaviour. Nevertheless, almost seventeen years later the role of men in reproductive health has remained almost unchanged. Despite the fact that current health policies focus on the relevance of the role of the couple, there are no studies which look at this issue in Portugal. Advances in technology and the other means of communication that support Sexual and Reproductive Health (e.g., 3D echography and other screening exams, flyers, videos), seemed to mark the beginning of a new era in which men and women could be equal partners in the decision making processes, but these hopes have not been realised.

The present chapter employs the results of qualitative research to attain the universe of meanings which allows for a more in depth analysis of the issue under study (Bodgan and Biklen, 1994; Minayo, 2007). The interview was chosen as the main tool for the investigation carried out between May and June 2010. Content analysis was selected to perform the analysis of the interviews conducted with 20 single men and 46 married men, all over 18 years of age. Due to limitations of time and cost, a non probabilistic sample was used (snowball technique). The main objectives of this investigation were:

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  To identify male involvement in SRH;

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  To know the meaning of srh for men;

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  To identify men’s perception of their participation in SRH;

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  To identify the reasons why men were or were not involved in Family Planning;

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  To know the men’s sources of information on Family Planning.

The results show that 90% of the men interviewed consider their involvement in the vigilance of Sexual and Reproductive Health important, seeing it as relating to physical as well as sexual well-being. In their opinion, family planning is a means to inform, watch over and plan a family. Nevertheless, 90% of them had not, to date, participated in any kind of consultation for family planning. The results identify a need to create new strategies for the promotion of Sexual and Reproductive Health among men, employing for example social marketing strategies, in which new technologies and certain means of communication could have an important role.