Factors affecting ANC women’s satisfaction with communication skills of health care providers

Abstract

Inadequate communications skills are the most common factors affecting communication which reduces the accuracy of diagnosis thus compromising adherence. Many researches done on antenatal care have focused upon improving the woman’s access to care and her knowledge of the importance of antenatal care; it has not generally incorporated factors that affect the quality of communication and subsequent satisfaction of antenatal women. The goal of this study was to identify the factors that influence women’s satisfaction with the communication skills of health care providers. It was a descriptive cross-sectional where 384 subjects were interviewed by use of Interviewer administered questionnaires. Non participatory observation checklist was also used. SPSS and Excel were used to generate Frequencies, Percentages, averages, Pearson’s Chi-squares and Odds Ratios. The research revealed factors that affected women’s satisfaction at the clinic. Greeting and introducing oneself to the ANC women by name were statistically significant with satisfaction for all cadres of healthcare workers with p value of 0.000. (χ2 = 175, 242.3, 267.1, 149.1 for doctors, nurses, record clerks and the lab technicians respectively.). Giving ANC women enough time to express themselves, Educating and empathising with them were also statistically significant (P≤0.05, OR 5.44, C.I 95%). The women socio-demographic factors were however not significant. This study is useful to health services managers targeting to mitigate communication barriers to improve health outcomes, diagnostic accuracy and other social outcomes in pregnancy.