Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2018 Oct 11;13(10):e0203255.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0203255. eCollection 2018.

Effects of customer self-audit on the quality of maternity care in Tabriz: A cluster-randomized controlled trial

Kamal Gholipour  1   2 , Jafar Sadegh Tabrizi  2 , Mohammad Asghari Jafarabadi  3   4 , Shabnam Iezadi  5 , Ahmad Mardi  6
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

Effects of customer self-audit on the quality of maternity care in Tabriz: A cluster-randomized controlled trial

Kamal Gholipour et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Objective: To study the effects of customer self-audit on the service quality (SQ) and customer quality (CQ) of maternity care.

Design: A community-based cluster-randomized controlled trial.

Setting: Twenty-one health centres and health posts in Tabriz, Iran.

Participants: Of 21 health centres/health posts, 10 were randomly assigned to the intervention group and 11 randomly assigned to the control group. Participants were 185 pregnant women selected from health centre/post registration lists (intervention group: n = 92; control group: n = 93).

Interventions: The intervention was a customer self-audit based on the CenteringPregnancy® model of prenatal group care. The intervention group attended group support sessions focused on participants' opinions, questions, and self-management concerns. They also received sessions on experiential learning, coping, problem-solving, and goal-setting by a family health expert, a midwife, and a doctor. Control group participants continued to receive individual care.

Primary outcome measures: SQ and CQ were assessed using questionnaires. Patients rated the importance and performance of non-health quality dimensions. SQ was calculated as: SQ = 10 - (Importance × Performance).

Results: Total mean SQ scores were 7.63 (0.91) and 8.91 (0.76) for the control and intervention groups, respectively, a statistically significant difference (p<0.001). Compared with the control group, the intervention group scored higher on the SQ aspects confidentiality, communication, autonomy, availability of support group, dignity, safety, prevention, and accessibility. Total mean CQ scores for the control and intervention groups were 82.63(7.21) and 87.47 (6.75), respectively, a statistically significant difference (p<0.001). After intervention, 82.6% of intervention group participants and 50.5% of control group participants reached the highest stage of self-management, showing an ability to take care of themselves under stress and financial constraints.

Conclusions: The group prenatal care customer self-audit improved the SQ and CQ of maternity care by increased involvement of participants and giving them active roles in the care process.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Eligibility and random allocation of study participants.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Moghani Lankarani M, Changizi N, Rasouli M, AmirKhani MA, Assari S. Prevention of pregnancy complications in iran following implementing a national educational program. J Family Reprod Health. 2014;8(3):97–100. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Jong EIF-d, Jansen DEMC, Baarveld F, Boerleider AW, Spelten E, Schellevis Fo, et al. Determinants of prenatal health care utilisation by low-risk women: A prospective cohort study. Women Birth. 2015;28(2):87–94. 10.1016/j.wombi.2015.01.005 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Alexander GR, Korenbrot CC. The role of prenatal care in preventing low birth weight. The Future of children / Center for the Future of Children, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation. 1995;5(1):103–20. - PubMed
    1. Oyelese Y. Prenatal Care: Examining the Evidence for an Evolving Paradigm. Am Fam Physician 2005;71(7):1264–6. - PubMed
    1. Dai L-L, Mao Y-Y, Luo X-M, Shen Y-P. Prenatal Care in Combination with Maternal Educational Level Has a Synergetic Effect on the Risk of Neonatal Low Birth Weight: New Findings in a Retrospective Cohort Study in Kunshan City, China. PLoS One. 2014;9(11):e113377 10.1371/journal.pone.0113377 - DOI - PMC - PubMed

Publication types