Factors influencing satisfaction of antenatal service quality in public and private hospitals in Lusaka, Zambia

Abstract

Almost all maternal deaths occurring in developing countries are due to complications arising during antenatal, intra-partum and immediate postnatal period. Of these deaths more than half of them occur in sub-Saharan Africa and one third occur in South Asia. Most causes of these deaths are easily preventable through antenatal care in pregnancy, skilled care during childbirth, and care and support in the weeks after childbirth. In many African countries the coverage antenatal is increasing but the coverage alone does not provide information on quality of care, and poor quality in antenatal, clinics, correlated with poor service utilisation, is common in Africa. The purpose of this study was to assess factors influencing antenatal service quality in public and private health facilities in Lusaka District, Zambia, focusing on expectant mothers’ perspectives. A cross-sectional, descriptive, correlational design was used to examine the relationships between expectations, the quality of antenatal, personal characteristics and the type of provider with overall satisfaction, as well as with satisfaction with each of the following dimensions: Tangibility, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy.