Clients’ satisfaction with quality of childbirth services: A comparative study between public and private facilities in Limuru Sub-County, Kiambu, Kenya

BackgroundThis study intended to compare the clients’ satisfaction with the quality of childbirth services in a private and public facility amongst mothers who have delivered within the last twenty four to seventy hours.MethodsThis was a cross-sectional comparative research design with both quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis methods. Data were collected through a focused group discussion guide and structured questionnaire collecting information on clients’ satisfaction with quality of childbirth services. The study was conducted amongst women of reproductive age (WRA) between 15–49 years in Tigoni District hospital (public hospital) and Limuru Nursing home (private hospital). For quantitative data we conducted descriptive analysis and Mann-Whitney test using SPSS version 20.0 while qualitative data was manually analyzed manually using thematic analysis.ResultsA higher proportion of clients from private facility 98.1% were attended within 0–30 minutes of arrival to the facility as compared to 87% from public facility. The overall mean score showed that the respondents in public facility gave to satisfaction with the services was 4.46 out of a maximum of 5.00 score while private facility gave 4.60. The level of satisfaction amongst respondents in the public facility on pain relief after delivery was statistically significantly higher than the respondents in private facilities (U = 8132.50, pConclusionIn overall, majority of clients from both public and private facilities expressed satisfaction with quality of services from admission till discharge in both public and private facilities and were willing to recommend other to come and deliver in the respective facilities.