Perception and level of satisfaction with the quality of antenatal care services among pregnant women attending antenatal clinic at plateau state specialist hospital, Jos, Nigeria

Objective: This study evaluated pregnant women’s perception and level of satisfaction with quality of antenatal care receivedat Plateau State Specialist Hospital. Materials and Methods: The study employed a hospital-based cross-sectional design. Convenience sampling was used toselect two hundred and thirty-eight (238) women attending antenatal clinic at the Plateau State Specialist Hospital. A validatedsemi-structured interviewer-administered questionnaire with a Cronbach’s Alpha score of 0.83 was used for data collection. Respondent’s perception was measured on a 36-point rating scale and the level of satisfaction on a 9-point rating scale. Data wassubjected to descriptive analysis and Pearson’s correlation was used to test for hypothesis. Results: The mean age was 28.79 years. Most of the respondents were married (81.9%), twenty-eight percent of the respondentshad two children. The respondent’s perception of quality of antenatal care shows a mean score of 25.0± 4.61 whichindicates that the respondents had positive perception of the quality of antenatal care (69.4%). Also, the respondent’s level ofsatisfaction with the quality of antenatal care received shows a mean score of 6.50 ± 1.8 indicating that they were very satisfied(72.2%) with quality of antenatal care. There was a significant relationship between the respondent’s perception of the qualityof antenatal care and level of satisfaction of the quality of antenatal care service (r= 0.43; p< 0.003). Conclusion: The respondents had positive perception and are satisfied with the quality of antenatal care services received. APeriodic patient satisfaction survey should be established as part of the antenatal evaluation to provide feedback for continuousquality improvement. Keywords: Antenatal care; perception; level of satisfaction; Plateau.