Egyptian Women’s Satisfaction and Perception of Antenatal Care

Aim: to assess pregnant women perception of ANC (antenatal care) and their satisfaction with different aspects of care.
Study Design: A Cross sectional study was conducted on 600 pregnant females.
Place and Duration of Study: Shawa family medicine center in Shawa village in Mansoura, Dakahlia governorate from March 2010 to September 2010.
Methodology: Our target group completed the questionnaire including socio-demographic data, duration of pregnancy and number of their antenatal visit, questions to assess; satisfaction about different aspects of quality of the care, to assess women perception for ANC components.
Results: High satisfaction (>90%) was reported for waiting time for laboratory results, answering inquiries and help by staff, trust the doctor followed by cleanness of the center, privacy, most of accessibility items, most of physician performance items. Satisfaction (<30%) reported for location of the center, health education methods, explanation of the problems by physician. All females who came for repeated visits confirmed the application of follow up measures in each visit by doctors. The majority of the female (>75%) received proper nutritional care and fetal examination, performed ultrasound examination and only 65% actually received tetanus toxoid. <40% reported home visits, familial participation in care, had blood and stool analysis. Pregnant females were satisfied with most of the health education messages. Information about teeth care, breast care and clothing achieved lowest satisfaction (<20%).
Conclusions: The majority of the females was satisfied by the quality of care and reported the perception of ANC components however; low satisfaction with health education components indicates a need for strategies to improve this important aspect of care.