Caregivers’ satisfaction and supervision of primary health care services in Nnewi, Nigeria

Abstract

Although major gains were made in the reduction of childhood health indicators in the previous decade, stagnations or reversals were seen in many countries since the 1990s. Despite presence of primary health centers (PHC) in Nigeria, there are still high levels of morbidity and mortality among children because the quality of child health services falls short of what it could be in the country. Supportive supervision of PHCs should also improve the quality of child health services. This study assessed the level of clients’ satisfaction with care received and the quality of supervision of child health services in selected PHC facilities of Nnewi, Nigeria. The study design was cross sectional. Four health facilities were selected by simple random sampling technique from a list of 12 public PHC facilities that provide at least three of the range of essential child health services. Using interviewer administered questionnaire, data were collected from 305 caregivers and analyzed accordingly. Also key informant interviews were used to elicit information facility supervision frequency and adequacy. The mean age of the mainly female caregivers was 31.9 ± 9.4 years. Majority of the caregivers attended health facilities closest to them but 18.5% of the 65 who do not, said they did not like the health workers. Although more than 80% of clients were satisfied with quality of child health services received, yet 41.3% of them felt that the number of service days were inadequate. None of the health facilities had a work plan, supervision schedule or supervision checklist. Increasing the number of service days and providing supervision schedules and checklists at the health facilities can improve caregiver satisfaction and hopefully enhance quality of child health services at the PHCs.

Key words: Caregivers, satisfaction, supervision, PHC, Nnewi