Women’s satisfaction during pregnancy and at delivery in Tuscany (Italy)

The Tuscany region constitutes an excellence at the national level for the quality of its health services. Following the WHO guidelines on the prenatal and childcare services, it has an integrated path targeted at pregnant women, called “birth path”, to take care of all clinical and non-clinical aspects of pregnancy, childbirth and postpartum. New mothers’ evaluation of the birth path was the object of a specific survey, conducted in Tuscany in 2012-2013, which is analyzed in detail in this paper. Focusing on the association of women’s socio-demographic characteristics and overall satisfaction of the care path using multilevel modelling, the main conclusion is that, while the average was high, significant differences in satisfaction levels emerge between women from different socio-demographic groups. Women’s satisfaction at childbirth is generally considered an important indicator of the quality of maternity services, with implications on the health and well-being of the mother and the child. However, the effect of women’s characteristics on satisfaction is under-investigated, especially in Italy: our research aims at filling this gap.