Maternal satisfaction with delivery service and associated factors among women who gave birth at public hospitals in Guji Zone, Southern Ethiopia

Maternal satisfaction during delivery services is considered an important indicator of the quality of healthcare in a hospital setting and determines the uptake of services during subsequent pregnancies. However, there is limited information on the magnitude of women’s satisfaction during delivery services in the study area. Thus, this study aimed to assess factors associated with maternal satisfaction with delivery services among women who gave birth at public hospitals in Guji Zone, Southern Ethiopia.

A facility-based cross-sectional study was conducted at public hospitals in Guji Zone from December 1, 2020, to January 30, 2021. Two hundred forty-nine women who gave birth at public hospitals were recruited by a systematic random sampling technique. The collected data were entered into the Epi Info 7 software and then exported to SPSS Version 26 for analysis. A logistic regression model was employed to identify the association between independent variables and maternal satisfaction during delivery services. A P-value less than 0.05 and an Adjusted Odds Ratio with 95% CI was computed to determine the strength of the association between these variables.

In this study, 138(55.4%), 95% CI (49.1–61.7) women were satisfied with delivery. Mothers who delivered through cesarean section (AOR = 2.92, 95% CI: 1.34–6.33), privacy assured (AOR = 3.14, 95% CI: 1.76–5.59), shorter duration of labor (AOR = 2.82, 95% CI: 1.64–4.62), waiting time ≤ 30 min (AOR = 5.15,95% CI:1.99–13.32) and normal fetal outcome (AOR = 2.63, 95% CI:1.42–4.85) were associated with mothers satisfaction with delivery care services.

The overall magnitude of women’s satisfaction with delivery services is low, which is below the national client satisfaction target of ≥ 85%. Factors such as mode of delivery, assured privacy, short duration of labor, waiting time ≤ 30 min, and good fetal outcome were significantly associated with women’s satisfaction with delivery services. Therefore, healthcare providers should provide better management during intrapartum childbirth or emergency obstetric care to improve fetal outcomes during delivery services. In addition, health facility managers should avail infrastructure that helps to maintain the privacy of women who give birth in the facility.