Awareness and satisfaction with antenatal care services among pregnant women in Lagos state, Nigeria

ABSTRACT

Objectives: Despite the growing interest and efforts by government to make popular use of antenatal care (ANC) services in Nigeria as recommended by the World Health Organization, high level of infant and maternal mortality remains a major public health challenge facing the country. Dissatisfaction toward ANC services among pregnant women may be attributed to low level of awareness. This study assessed the level of awareness and satisfaction of ANC services among pregnant women in Lagos state, Nigeria. Material and Methods: The study adopted a survey research design. A multistage sampling technique was utilized to recruit participants for this study. A validated questionnaire was used for data collection and data were analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. Ethical approval was obtained from Babcock University Health Research Ethics Committee with approval no BUHREC543/17. Approval was also obtained from health service commission and in the six general hospitals used for the study. Informed consent was taken and respondents were reassured of the privacy and confidentiality of the information obtained. Results: The results showed that most of the respondents (85.6%) were in their reproductive years, that is, ages 23­37. The results showed that the level of awareness had a significant influence on pregnant women's satisfaction with the services (ß = 0.460, F(1,1313) = 351.499, R2 = 0.211, P < 0.05). The level of awareness of ANC services was high (M = 4.31, SD = 1.01) on a scale of 5. Conclusion: The study concluded that awareness of ANC services positively impacts pregnant women's satisfaction with the services in Lagos state. Efforts should be made to improve the level of awareness of pregnant mothers to achieve greater satisfaction with ANC services in Lagos state.