PATIENTS’ CARE SATISFACTION AND FOETAL LOCUS OF CONTROL AS PREDICTORS OF QUALITY OF LIFE AMONG PREGNANT WOMEN ATTENDING CLINIC AT GENERAL HOSPITAL AKURE, ONDO STATE

Abstract

Pregnancy has been one of the identified conditions that relatively impact on the women’s quality of life especially in developing countries where many pregnant women patronise non-orthodox treatment during the pregnancy stages. The quality of life among pregnant women needs more attention by the stakeholders as it is reported that many pregnant women are having poor wellbeing during their pregnancy stage.  The study, therefore, examined the prediction of quality of life by care satisfaction and foetal locus of control among pregnant women.  This study adopted descriptive survey design. The population of the study was the pregnant women attending clinic at General hospital Akure, Ondo state. Sample of 300 pregnant women were selected using multistage sampling technique. An instrument comprised of the World Health Organization Quality of Life (WHOQOLBREF) questionnaire, 50-item patient satisfaction questionnaire (PSQ-SF) and 18-item foetal health locus of control Scale (FHLCS) were used to collect data. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used. The data analysed using frequency counts and percentages while the hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance using multiple linear regressions and simple linear regression. The results revealed that foetal health locus of control significantly predict quality of life {F (3,296) =28.194, R2 =0.471, p=.01} among the pregnant women in Akure, Ondo State. It was further shown that Patient care satisfaction accounted for 8.1% of the variance in quality of life (?=0.28, t=5.11, p=.001), Thus, indicates that patient care satisfaction significantly predict quality of life among pregnant women in Akure, Ondo state. The study concluded that foetal locus of control and care satisfaction predicted quality of life of pregnant women in General hospital in Akure, Ondo state.   Keywords: Quality of life, Foetal locus of control, Patient care satisfaction, Pregnant women.