Advances in Nursing & Midwifery

Abstract

Background and aim

Quality of care is a dimension of quality of services and Clients’ satisfaction is an outcome of quality. However, clients’ satisfaction is sometimes translated as quality of care. The aim of this study was aimed to identify a correlation between quality of care and clients' satisfaction in family planning units of healthcare centers affiliated with Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences & Health Services.

Materials and methods

In this descriptive study, 200 Clients referring to family planning units of 11 healthcare centers took part in the study with a multistage sampling method. Data were collected with a checklist to assess quality of care and a questionnaire to identify clients' satisfaction in 2 parts: structure and family planning services scored by a Likert scale. Content and face validities of the questionnaire were checked and its reliability was calculated by Cronbach’s α (r=0.94) and inter-rater methods (r=0.91). Data were analyzed with SPSS 16.

Findings

56.73±10.96 percent of the services had conformity with standards; therefore, its quality was considered as moderate. The lowest and highest percents were related to education (35.43±16.14) and history taking (77.83±28.46) respectively. Clients' satisfaction was considered good (83.75±13.89). No significant correlation was found between quality of care and satisfaction.

Conclusion 

With respect to the results, factors other than the quality of care can influence on clients' satisfaction. Therefore, all aspects should be assessed and, according to the problems found, appropriate interventions may be planned and implemented.

Keywords: Quality of care, Family planning, Satisfaction.

^*Corresponding Author: Masoomeh Simbar, Assistant Professor, Dept. of Midwifery, Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences & Health Services, Tehran, Iran. E-mail: msimbar@sbmu.ac.ir