Sociodemographic Determinants of Patients’ Satisfaction with the Quality of Care in the General Hospitals in Ebonyi State, Nigeria

INTRODUCTION: The purpose of the study was to assess sociodemographic determinants of patients' satisfaction with the quality of care in the General Hospitals in Ebonyi State. Four hypotheses were formulated for the study. Demographic characteristics of age, level of education, marital status, and income level on patients' satisfaction were ascertained.

METHODS: A cross-sectional survey research design was used for the study. The population of the study comprised 1, 363, 633 (18 years and above) who attended general out-patient clinics in the General Hospitals using a sample of 400. Data were analyzed using mean ( ), t-test, and analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used to answer the hypothesis at 0.05 level of significance. The SPSS version 20 was employed for the analysis.

RESULTS: Findings showed that patients who were 40–60 years ( = 2.96), had tertiary education ( = 2.97), earned income of N40, 000 – N59, 000 ( = 2.96) and were married ( = 3.09) were most satisfied. Besides, age, marital status, and income were not significantly associated (p>0.05) with patients’ satisfaction while the level of education was significant (p<0.05).

CONCLUSION: The study revealed that older age, more educated, middle-class income earners, being married were more satisfied with the quality of care received. Efforts should be made by Health workers to ensure that all patients are satisfied irrespective of their demographic characteristics.