Assessing the level of patient rights awareness among expectant women attending antenatal care clinics in primary health facility in Kirinyaga County, Kenya

Abstract

Expectant women are recipients of poor quality of care including fear of abuse and disrespect which is a clear violation of their rights. These experiences influence women’s decisions to seek antenatal care. Even though Kenya’s Patients’ rights charter of 2013 empowers them to demand quality care, there is limited information concerning their knowledge on patients rights and responsibilities and this study intends to explore this gap. This was a cross-sectional study where expectant women were drawn from two primary healthcare facilities, attending their monthly routine antenatal care clinics. Data was gathered using a questionnaire during a 2-month period from January to March 2024. Descriptive statistical methods, paired t-test, and repeated measure analysis of variance at significant level P<0.05 were used. Participants’ mean age was 28.14 + 6.43 years. Most patients (78.6%) did not know about the patients’ rights charter and the majority of them (97%) had never received any form of education concerning patient rights. Of those who had knowledge of patient rights, 69.4% of them mentioned healthcare providers to be the source of information. The most practiced patient rights are quality of care (83%) and dignity and respect (97%). The patient’s level of awareness of patients’ rights and responsibilities is low and there is need to enhance this awareness through proper implementation of patient rights through dissemination of relevant content, continuous medical education programs and proper sensitization of healthcare providers on the right content to disseminate as this can lead to improved quality of antenatal care services.