Quality of perinatal care services from the user’s perspective: a Dutch study applies the World Health Organization’s responsiveness concept

Abstract

BackgroundThe concept of responsiveness was introduced by the World Health Organization (WHO) to address non-clinical aspects of service quality in an internationally comparable way. Responsiveness is defined as aspects of the way individuals are treated and the environment in which they are treated during health system interactions.The aim of this study is to assess responsiveness outcomes, their importance and factors influencing responsiveness outcomes during the antenatal and delivery phases of perinatal care.MethodThe Responsiveness in Perinatal and Obstetric Health Care Questionnaire was developed in 2009/10 based on the eight-domain WHO concept and the World Health Survey questionnaire. After ethical approval, a total of 171 women, who were 2 weeks postpartum, were recruited from three primary care midwifery practices in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, using face-to-face interviews. We dichotomized the original five ordinal response categories for responsiveness attainment as ‘poor’ and good responsiveness and analyzed the ranking of the domain performance and importance according to frequency scores. We used a series of independent variables related to health services and users’ personal background characteristics in multiple logistic regression analyses to explain responsiveness.ResultsPoor responsiveness outcomes ranged from 5.9% to 31.7% for the antenatal phase and from 9.7% to 27.1% for the delivery phase. Overall for both phases, ‘respect for persons’ (Autonomy, Dignity, Communication and Confidentiality) domains performed better and were judged to be more important than ‘client orientation’ domains (Choice and Continuity, Prompt Attention, Quality of Basic Amenities, Social Consideration). On the whole, responsiveness was explained more by health-care and health related issues than personal characteristics.ConclusionTo improve responsiveness outcomes caregivers should focus on domains in the category ‘client orientation’.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s12884-017-1464-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Satisfaction with obstetric care in a population of low-educated native Dutch and non-western minority women. Focus group research

“…In previous quantitative studies, this domain performed better than other domains and was judged to be more important than the other domains within the category ‘client orientation’ (also see Box 1). [27, 49] Possible explanations for these differences in study outcomes are the differences in used study designs. The aforementioned studies used questionnaires and structured interviews, which required participants to rate the ‘confidentiality’ domain.…”

“…In that study the ‘client orientated’ category was found less important than the ‘respect for persons’ domains. [27]…”

“…A previous quantitative study assessed the responsiveness of obstetric care, and factors influencing this responsiveness during antenatal care and birthing care, in the Netherlands. [27] The researchers found that overall the performance of responsiveness of the obstetric healthcare system was explained more by healthcare and health related issues than by personal characteristics of the patient. The ‘client orientation’ responsiveness category (WHO domains: prompt attention, quality of basic amenities, choice of care provider and access of social support) was judged most negatively.…”

Satisfaction of a new telephone consultation service for prenatal and postnatal health care

“…They called a free mobile phone number, and spoke to a trained nurse specialist/practitioner to consult maternal and newborn care practices, including a prenatal and postnatal health care and healthrelated issues, neonatal care, their mental health problems, and non-clinical aspects, such as health consultations, immunization integration and family planning. 13 The PPHSN project also provided information for supporting raising a child (the peer support and medical information, knowledge and skills related to a child's developmental needs, emotional support, education, or sensitive lifestyle issues with parents) by nurse specialists. The participants can freely choose one of the three services, including telephone, mobile phone and social networking sites (SNS, email and line devices).…”

Faktor Ketidakpuasan Ibu Hamil dalam Pelayanan Asuhan Kehamilan

“…Berdasarkan hasil penelitian yang ditemukan salah satu penyebab ketidakpuasan ibu hamil dalam pelayanan asuhan kehamilan yaitu waktu menunggu (Adeyinka et al, 2017;Chemir et al, 2014;Ejigu et al, 2013;Nwaeze et al, 2013). Waktu yang diperlukan untuk menghadiri pemeriksaan kehamilan menjadi kunci penentu kepuasan antara peserta dalam penelitian, waktu yang dihabiskan bepergian ke klinik, waktu tunggu di klinik (van der Kooy et al, 2017). jumlah waktu yang dihabiskan dengan dokter (Bahadoran, Fahami, & Mohamadirizi, 2014) dan waktu di ambil dari kerja ke pelayanan.…”