Abstract:
Background: Urban health extension program is an innovative government plan to ensure health
equity by creating demand for essential health services through the provision of appropriate
health information at a household level. It aimed at improving community’s health status through
their active participation and utilization of services, which depends on their satisfaction and
acceptance of the program. However, there is no study done on community’s satisfaction on the
services provided by urban health extension program in Ethiopia.
Objective: To assess the level of community satisfaction on urban health extension program and
factors associated with it in Hosanna town, South Ethiopia.
Methods: Community based cross sectional study, using both quantitative and qualitative
methods were employed from March 1-30/2013. The quantitative data were collected by using
interviewer administered structured questionnaire to sample size of 407 respondents. Data
analysis was done by using SPSS. Descriptive statistics, bivariate analysis and multiple
regressions were employed and the result was described in words and figures. P-value less than
0.05 and 95% confidence interval was used to declare association between independent and the
dependent variables. Qualitative data were collected through FGD with Kebele health committee
members and model families in Hossana town.
Results: 67.4% of the respondents were satisfied with services provided by urban health
extension program. The study shows that communities’ perception on technical competency
(ß=0.425; 95% CI 0.084, 0.34), interpersonal relationship (ß=0.506; 95% CI 0.216, 0.797), and
perceived accessibility of service (ß=0.752; 95% CI 0.064, 0.86) were independent predictors of
satisfaction (P<0.05). In addition, marital status, knowledge and attitude of respondents were
also associated with satisfaction of the community.
Conclusion and recommendation: The finding of this study showed that community’s perception
on health extension workers interaction had a significant influence on satisfaction of the community
as well as on the implementation of urban health extension program. Therefore, urban health
extension professionals and Hossana town health officials should give more emphasis on the
improvement of their relationship with the community to enhance utilization of service.
