Pregnant Women's Satisfaction with the Quality of Antenatal Care At Maternal and Child Health Centers in El-Beheira Governorate

Background: Quality of antenatal care is seen as a factor closely related to effectiveness, utilization, compliance and continuity of care. Women's satisfaction has been linked to the quality of services given and the extent to which specific needs are met. The aim of this study was to assess pregnant women's satisfaction with the quality of antenatal care at maternal and child health (MCH) centers in El-Beheira Governorate. A descriptive exploratory research design was utilized. The study was conducted at seven MCH centers affiliated to Ministry of Health in El-Beheira Governorate. These centers were chosen through a multi-stage probability sampling technique. A convenience sample of 350 pregnant women who were attending the antenatal clinic. Three tools were used for data collection Tool I: Basic data structured interview schedule. Tool II: Women's satisfaction structured interview schedule. Tool III: Quality of antenatal care observational checklist. Study results revealed more than one half of the study subjects (58.9 %) were unsatisfied with the overall antenatal care services, more than one quarter of them (26.9%) were moderately satisfied and only 14.2% were highly satisfied. In addition, more than one-half (57.1%) of MCH centers had low quality of care. And 28.6% of them had moderate quality of care, while only 14.3% of them had high quality. The study concluded that quality of antenatal care provided at studied MCH centers in El-Beheira governorate was poor, this due to lack of proper infrastructure for providing antenatal care, shortage of staff, lack of necessary medications , vaccination, equipments and supplies. The pregnant women were unsatisfied with the antenatal care provided in these centers. It indicates that a decrease in the quality of care level is followed by a decrease in the clients' satisfaction level. Continuous training of the health care providers at maternal and child health centers is recommended as it may improve their performance and consequently raise the quality level.