An Assessment of Enrollees’ Knowledge and Satisfaction with Delta State Contributory Health Scheme: A Cross- Sectional Survey of Civil Servants in Delta State, Nigeria

Background: Delta State Contributory Health Scheme (DSCHS) was established to provide quality and affordable healthcare services to all Deltans, irrespective of socioeconomic status and geographical location. This study assessed the knowledge and satisfaction of formal sector enrollees with the Delta State Contributory Health scheme.

Methodology: This was a cross-sectional descriptive study involving 400 public/civil servants enrolled in DSCHS using a multistage sampling technique. Data was collected using an interviewer-administered structured questionnaire and was analyzed using IBM SPSS version 25.0 software.

Results: The study revealed that 207 (51.7%) of the respondents were males, while 193 (48.3%) were females. Two hundred and five (51.2%) of the respondents were within the age group of 43 – 52 years, and 353 (88.2%) of the respondents had tertiary education. Overall, 296 (74.0%) of the respondents had good knowledge, and 104 (26.0%) had poor knowledge of DSCHS; while 138 (52.1%) of the respondents were unsatisfied with DSCHS and 127 (47.9%) were satisfied with the scheme. Age (X2 = 19.67; P<0.001), gender (X2 = 8.53; P=0.004), education (X2 = 20.52; P<0.001), marital status (X2 = 14.13; P=0.001), religion (X2 = 13.12; P=0.001) and years of working experience (X2 = 39.66; P<0.001) was significantly associated with knowledge of DSCHS. The factors significantly associated with satisfaction with DSCHS were ethnicity (X2 = 14.39; P=0.013) and years of working experience (X2 = 11.23; P=0.024).

Conclusion: The majority of the study participants had good knowledge regarding DSCHS but were unsatisfied with the level of services provided by the scheme. It is therefore recommended that Delta State Contributory Health Commission should review its benefits package and urgently scale up services to improve enrollees' satisfaction with the scheme.