Are Kazakhstani Women Satisfied with Antenatal Care? Implementing the WHO Tool to Assess the Quality of Antenatal Services

Women’s satisfaction is a part of the quality assurance process with potential to improve antenatal health services. The objective of this study was to assess the prevalence of women’s satisfaction with antenatal care in an urban Kazakhstani setting and investigate associated factors. A total of 1496 women who delivered in all maternity clinics from 6 February through 11 July 2013 in Semey, East Kazakhstan, filled out a standardized pretested questionnaire on satisfaction with antenatal care. Independent associations between dissatisfaction and its correlates were studied by logistic regression. Ninety percent of the women were satisfied with the antenatal care. Women who were dissatisfied had lower education. These women would have preferred more checkups, shorter intervals between checkups, more time with care providers, and shorter waiting times. The overall dissatisfaction was associated with long waiting times and insufficient information on general health in pregnancy, results of laboratory tests, treatment during pregnancy, and breastfeeding. Although most of the women in the study setting were satisfied with the new antenatal care model, we identified the main sources of dissatisfaction that should be addressed. Given that Semey is a typical Kazakhstani city, the results can be generalized to other Kazakhstani urban settings.