HEALTH-CARE CHARACTERISTICS ASSOCIATED WITH WOMENS SATISFACTION WITH PRENATAL-CARE

OBJECTIVES. The objective of this study was to explore the relation be tween prenatal care characteristics and satisfaction among Medicaid re cipients. METHODS. African-American (n = 75) and Mexican-American (n = 26) nonadolescent primiparous pregnant women who had at least three p renatal care visits participated in a 25-minute telephone survey that asked them about satisfaction with prenatal care (art of care, technic al quality, physical environment, access, availability and efficacy); prenatal care characteristics (practitioner attributes, service availa bility, and features of the delivery of care); and, personal character istics (sociodemographics, health status and behaviors, and pregnancy- related variables). Univariate and multivariable analyses were conduct ed to explore the relations between personal characteristics and satis faction and between care characteristics and satisfaction. RESULTS. Fo r the overall sample, the following prenatal care characteristics were associated with increased satisfaction: having procedures explained b y the provider, short waiting times at the prenatal care site, the ava ilability of ancillary services, and reporting that the prenatal care practitioner was male. When examining the data by ethnicity, whether t he provider explained procedures was the most important determinant of satisfaction for both African-American and Mexican-American women, CO NCLUSIONS. Knowledge of the care characteristics that impact low-incom e pregnant women's satisfaction can be utilized to alter service deliv ery to increase use of prenatal care and ultimately to improve perinat al outcomes.