THE QUALITY OF PRENATAL CARE FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF THE SERVICE RECIPIENTS USING THE SERVQUAL PATTERN DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC IN SANANDAJ COMPREHENSIVE HEALTH CENTERS

prenatal care is performed with the aim of maintaining a healthy pregnancy in terms of physical health and favorable mental outcomes for the mother, baby, and family. Considering that the health and progress of any society is largely based on the health of women, this study was conducted with the aim of determining the quality of prenatal care from the perspective of the service recipients using the SERVQUAL pattern during the Covid-19 pandemic in sanandaj comprehensive health centers.

In this descriptive-analytic study, 400 women referring to 10 comprehensive health centers in Sanandaj city to receive prenatal care were studied. The sampling method was cluster sampling (10 people in each cluster). 4 clusters (40 pregnant women) were selected from each center. SERVQUAL questionnaire was used to collect the data. Data were analyzed using Stata version 14 software and descriptive statistics i.e. independent t-test, one-way analysis of variance (or their non-parametric equivalent i.e. Mann-Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis, respectively), as well as chi-square test and Fisher;#39s test.

There was a negative quality gap in all five dimensions of service quality. The overall quality gap in this study was -0.66. The highest mean of this gap was in the concrete dimension (-1.44), and the lowest mean was in the empathy dimension (-0.02). Also, a statistically significant difference was seen between the perceptions and expectations of the clients in terms of tangibles, assurance, and guarantee (P0.05).

Based on the results, there was a gap between the level of expectations and perceptions of prenatal care recipients during the Covid-19 pandemic. The expectations of the service recipients was beyond their perceptions of the existing situation, and there is still large gap for improvement in order to achieve the satisfaction of the service recipients and provide the desired health care services.