Health care characteristics associated with women's satisfaction with prenatal care.
OBJECTIVE
The objective of this study was to explore the relation between prenatal care characteristics and satisfaction among Medicaid recipients.


METHODS
African-American (n = 75) and Mexican-American (n = 26) nonadolescent primiparous pregnant women who had at least three prenatal care visits participated in a 25-minute telephone survey that asked them about satisfaction with prenatal care (art of care, technical quality, physical environment, access, availability and efficacy); prenatal care characteristics (practitioner attributes, service availability, and features of the delivery of care); and, personal characteristics (sociodemographics, health status and behaviors, and pregnancy-related variables). Univariate and multivariable analyses were conducted to explore the relations between personal characteristics and satisfaction and between care characteristics and satisfaction.


RESULTS
For the overall sample, the following prenatal care characteristics were associated with increased satisfaction: having procedures explained by the provider, short waiting times at the prenatal care site, the availability of ancillary services, and reporting that the prenatal care practitioner was male. When examining the data by ethnicity, whether the provider explained procedures was the most important determinant of satisfaction for both African-American and Mexican-American women.


CONCLUSIONS
Knowledge of the care characteristics that impact low-income pregnant women's satisfaction can be utilized to alter service delivery to increase use of prenatal care and ultimately to improve perinatal outcomes.
Handler
A
A
Maternal and Child Health Training Program of the University of Illinois School of Public Health Community Health Sciences Division, Chicago 60612, USA.
Rosenberg
D
D
Raube
K
K
Kelley
M A
MA
D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American; D000720:Ancillary Services, Hospital / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D001071:Appointments and Schedules; D002641:Chicago; D015986:Confounding Factors, Epidemiologic; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006630:Hispanic or Latino; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D010298:Parity; D010353:Patient Education as Topic / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D017060:Patient Satisfaction / Q000208:ethnology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010822:Physicians, Women / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011159:Population Surveillance; D011247:Pregnancy; D011295:Prenatal Care / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors