Clients’ knowledge, perception and satisfaction with quality of maternal health care services at the primary health care level in Nnewi, Nigeria

Background: Clientsf knowledge, perception of and satisfaction with the quality of maternal health services (QMHS) enables maternal health programs to assess the impact of their services from the clients' perspective.Objective: The objective of this study is to assess the knowledge, perception of and clients' satisfaction with the QMHS at the primary health care (PHC) level in Nnewi, Nigeria.Materials and Methods: This was a cross.sectional survey. Using multistage sampling technique, 280 women utilizing maternal health services from randomly selected PHC facilities in Nnewi, Nigeria were selected for the study. Data were collected using a mix of quantitative and qualitative methods. Quantitative data were analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 16, while qualitative data were reported verbatim, analyzed thematically and necessary quotes presented.Results: A total of 280 women were studied. The mean age of the respondents was 29.2±5.9 years. 231 (82.5%) were married. 89 (31.8%) did not report any knowledge about QMHS. Level of satisfaction was not different among women of different socioeconomic groups (P > 0.05). Sociodemographic characteristics of clients were not found to be associated to the perception of waiting time: (P > 0.05). The attitude of health care providers toward the clients was reported as good.Conclusions: Despite the poor quality of services provided, this study showed that client's knowledge of quality of services was good. Furthermore cost, local language used, staff attitude and interaction with clients was acceptable and may be the reason for high level of satisfaction reported.Key words: Clients' knowledge, clientsf perception, clients' satisfaction, primary health care level, quality of maternal health service