‘The way we love ourselves in our marriage’: A qualitative study of shifting gender dynamics among partners of peer mentors in the context of an intervention to improve contraceptive agency through peer mentorship in rural Uganda
1
Family Community Medicine Department, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, United States
2
Department of Health Policy, Planning and Management, Makerere University School of Public Health, Kampala, Uganda
3
Institute for Health and Aging, Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, United States
Popul. Med. 2026;8(Supplement Supplement 1):
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
We examine how peer mentorship influenced male partners’ perceptions of gender dynamics and contraceptive use in a human-centered design-derived intervention to improve women’s contraceptive agency in Uganda. The “I-CAN” intervention entails experienced contraception users (“mentors”) providing tailored social support – including help navigating male partner communication – to peers (“mentees”) in their communities.
METHODS:
We conducted in-depth interviews with 12 mentors and 11 mentor partners in Mayuge and Oyam districts. Leveraging feminist relational theory, we employed an inductive and deductive approach to conduct a thematic analysis of how women’s roles as peer mentors affected dynamics with their male partners and their partners’ perceptions about pregnancy prevention.
RESULTS:
Initial findings indicate several shifts in gender dynamics. When their partner became a mentor, most men noticed they started doing more household chores, a change rarely corroborated by the mentors. Instead, many mentors described the earlier wakeups or extra work they took to ensure as little disruption as possible to the home routine. A few mentors began earning more than their partners, which alarmed some men who feared this change might displace their power, though others expressed pride in their partners’ mentorship. Several mentors and partners noticed that they communicated their daily activities more explicitly with one another during the intervention, which they felt eased tension and fostered greater love in their relationship. A number of male partners also mentioned coming to perceive contraceptives as beneficial to a healthy relationship because of the general information their partner shared about her mentorship. Some partners also seemed to indicate a willingness to share with other men about their changed perceptions on pregnancy prevention.
CONCLUSIONS:
We provide a unique lens into how a peer support intervention meant to enhance contraceptive decision-making impacted gender dynamics to add nuance to discussions around male engagement in family planning.
We examine how peer mentorship influenced male partners’ perceptions of gender dynamics and contraceptive use in a human-centered design-derived intervention to improve women’s contraceptive agency in Uganda. The “I-CAN” intervention entails experienced contraception users (“mentors”) providing tailored social support – including help navigating male partner communication – to peers (“mentees”) in their communities.
METHODS:
We conducted in-depth interviews with 12 mentors and 11 mentor partners in Mayuge and Oyam districts. Leveraging feminist relational theory, we employed an inductive and deductive approach to conduct a thematic analysis of how women’s roles as peer mentors affected dynamics with their male partners and their partners’ perceptions about pregnancy prevention.
RESULTS:
Initial findings indicate several shifts in gender dynamics. When their partner became a mentor, most men noticed they started doing more household chores, a change rarely corroborated by the mentors. Instead, many mentors described the earlier wakeups or extra work they took to ensure as little disruption as possible to the home routine. A few mentors began earning more than their partners, which alarmed some men who feared this change might displace their power, though others expressed pride in their partners’ mentorship. Several mentors and partners noticed that they communicated their daily activities more explicitly with one another during the intervention, which they felt eased tension and fostered greater love in their relationship. A number of male partners also mentioned coming to perceive contraceptives as beneficial to a healthy relationship because of the general information their partner shared about her mentorship. Some partners also seemed to indicate a willingness to share with other men about their changed perceptions on pregnancy prevention.
CONCLUSIONS:
We provide a unique lens into how a peer support intervention meant to enhance contraceptive decision-making impacted gender dynamics to add nuance to discussions around male engagement in family planning.
| eISSN: | 2654-1459 |
We process personal data collected when visiting the website. The function of obtaining information about users and their behavior is carried out by voluntarily entered information in forms and saving cookies in end devices. Data, including cookies, are used to provide services, improve the user experience and to analyze the traffic in accordance with the Privacy policy. Data are also collected and processed by Google Analytics tool (more).
You can change cookies settings in your browser. Restricted use of cookies in the browser configuration may affect some functionalities of the website.
You can change cookies settings in your browser. Restricted use of cookies in the browser configuration may affect some functionalities of the website.
