The Components of Women's Satisfaction with Maternity Care

For a better understanding of how women's satisfaction with maternity care is affected, a representative sample of 1790 women from the Montreal area who had delivered four to seven months earlier were mailed a postal questionnaire; 938 (52.4%) completed and returned it. With factor analysis, we determined five dimensions to women's satisfaction: (a) the delivery itself, (b) medical care, (c) nursing care, (d) information received and participation in the decision-making process, and (e) physical aspects of the labor and delivery rooms. Multiple regression analysis was used to determine explicative factors for each of these dimensions of satisfaction. Items relative to the delivery process such as pain intensity, complications, and length of labor were the most important for the delivery experience itself. Participation in the decision-making process was the first component of satisfaction with medical care. Information received appeared to be the major component of their satisfaction with nursing care. The physical environment did not affect women's satisfaction with obstetric care.