Women’s Utilization of Delivery Facilities and Their Satisfaction with Care: An Observational Study in Ondo State, South West Nigeria

Introduction: Women patronize different delivery outlets for various reasons putting them at risk of complications. It is important to assess their satisfaction with the care they receive when visiting any of these delivery outlets to further help programming that will enhance health facility utilization, which is the aim of this study.

Materials and Methods: This study used a cross-sectional design to recruit 423 women from the two complexes of the University of Medical Sciences Teaching Hospital and some selected Communities in Ondo State between July and December 2023. Information on the participants’ socio-demographic characteristics, obstetrics characteristics among others were obtained through semi-structured questionnaires administered by trained research assistants. Data obtained was analysed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 22. Chi-Square test (X2) was used to find the associations between the participants characteristics and their satisfaction with the care they received and their willingness to recommend the facilities for delivery. Multi-variable Logistic regression was used to determine variables that can predict their satisfaction with care and the level of significance set at p< 0.05.

Results: Out of the 423 participants, a total of 392 (92.7%) were satisfied with the care they received irrespective of where they delivered, 4 (0.9%) were not satisfied and 27 (6.4%) preferred to be neutral. Among the participants, 398(94.1%) were willing to recommend health facilities for delivery. The obstetrics characteristics significantly associated with being satisfied with care were prior antenatal clinic attendance (X2=55.701, p=0.000), mode of previous delivery (X2=19.262, p=0.004), complications following delivery (X2=23.968, p=0.001), and having had up to two delivery at the facility (X2=20.943, p=0.002).

Conclusion: There is a high satisfaction with care and willingness to recommend health facilities for delivery among the participants. This is probably due to the efforts of government to enhance health facility utilization through the exemption of users’ fees for maternity in a bid to reducing maternal mortality in Ondo State. However, efforts still need to be put in place for continuous assessment of the quality of care provided in our health facilities.