Satisfaction of Pregnant Women and Quality of Care in a Specialty Hospital, Cuenca –Ecuador

Abstract

The quality of maternal care is a key indicator for evaluating healthcare systems, impacting women’s well-being during pregnancy, childbirth, and the postpartum period. In Ecuador, challenges persist in the quality of care, particularly in Cuenca, where delays, lack of empathy, and communication deficiencies have been reported, affecting pregnant women’s satisfaction. This study aimed to determine the satisfaction and quality of care in a Specialty Hospital in Cuenca. An observational, prospective, cross-sectional, descriptive, and analytical study was conducted with 63 pregnant women over 18 years old who received care in April 2025. Surveys based on SERVQUAL and PSQ-III were used, assessing five dimensions (tangibility, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, and empathy) through a Likert scale. Overall satisfaction was the dependent variable, analyzed using descriptive statistics and multiple linear regression in SPSS v23.0, evaluating R², adjusted R², Durbin-Watson, and p-values. The results show that assurance had the highest mean (M=4.01, SD=1.13), followed by empathy (M=3.98, SD=1.00), while responsiveness had the lowest (M=3.80, SD=0.96). Linear regression indicated that empathy (R²=0.534), responsiveness (R²=0.533), and tangibility (R²=0.514) significantly explain satisfaction, with p-values <0.05, rejecting the null hypothesis. The global model, including all dimensions, showed a near-perfect fit (R²=1.000, Durbin-Watson=2.355), explaining 100% of satisfaction, with slight negative autocorrelation. Although overall satisfaction is high, waiting times and responsiveness require improvement.