Women's attitude to group prenatal care and their satisfaction

To evaluate the attitude and satisfaction level of women attending prenatal clinics for getting group care in Iran.

The descriptive-analytical study performed from 2009 to 2010, comprised of 701 pregnant women with gestational age of 20 weeks or more who had undergone at least two visits at 15 prenatal care centres in Zanjan, Iran. Detailed questionnaire regarding overall satisfaction, communication skills, quality of the care, existing attitudes about group prenatal care, availability and costs of services etc was filled up through face-to-face interviews with each subject. Data was analysed using SPSS 11 and analysis of variance.

Of the total, 489 (71%) subjects claimed that they preferred group prenatal care. The satisfaction level was found to be statistically significant according to the type of insurance (p < 0.001). The least and the most disappointed were subjects with private and social security insurances respectively. There was no significant relationship between satisfaction and age or level of maternal education, but the subjects said that the relationship with others in the group would have a severe effect on their learning. The overall satisfaction rate was more than 99% (n = 694).

The high satisfaction level suggests good quality of care is being provided by the centres concerned. Moreover, most of the mothers had a positive attitude towards the concept and practice of group prenatal care.