Determinants of client satisfaction with family planning services in government health facilities in Sokoto, Northern Nigeria

Introduction: Satisfaction evaluation is an excellent opportunity to involve clients in the process of assessing programs from users′ perspective and is recognized as a component of quality of care. This study aimed to identify determinants of client satisfaction with the family planning (FP) services provided in government health facilities in Sokoto metropolis. Materials and Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among FP clients that patronized the FP commodity delivery point in selected health facility in Sokoto, Northern Nigeria. A multi-stage sampling technique was used to select the study respondents. List of the clients that attended each clinic was compiled and used as a sampling frame. A set of pretested exit interviewer-administered questionnaire was used to collect data from the clients. Ethical approval was granted for the conduct of the study, and individual informed consent was obtained from each client. Thereafter, the exit questionnaire was administered. Results: All the respondents were females and those aged 25-29 years constituted a larger proportion of 26%. Overall mean age was 30.8 ± 7.0 years. Large proportion (85%) expressed satisfaction with FP services provided. About 49% of the respondents reported waiting for 30 min before being attended to by service providers while 13% waited for more than 2 h. Average waiting time was 60.3 ± 21.3 min with clients mean desired waiting time of 35.2 ± 11.1 min. Clinic waiting time, being examined during the visit, and attitude of both service providers and other clinic staffs were found to be the key determinants of client satisfaction. Conclusion: Although, most of the clients waited for more than 30 min, majority were satisfied with the services offered. There is a need to reduce waiting time of FP clients at the clinic and ensure clients are appropriately examined.