does group prenatal care affect satisfaction and prenatal care utilization in iranian pregnant women?

background: the need to provide high quality prenatal care services, which take account of women's views and specifi­cally address their need for information, support and communication, has been advocated and group prenatal care, had been sug­gested as one of the ways to achieve this objective. the purpose of this study was to examine the impact of group versus in­dividual prenatal care on satisfaction and prenatal care use. methods: this was a cluster-randomized controlled trial with the health center as the randomization unit that conducted in 2007. satisfaction was measured through a standardized questionnaire, and the kotelchuck adequacy of prenatal care utili­zation index was used to measure prenatal care utilization. results: we recruited 678 women (group prenatal care, (n= 344) and individal prenatal care, (n=334) in the study. women in group prenatal care model were more satisfied than women in individual prenatal care model in all areas evalu­ated, including information, communication, co-ordination and quality of care. group care women were significantly more likely to have adequate prenatal care than individual care women were (or=1.35 95% ci=1.26-1.44). conclusions: group prenatal care was associated with a significant improvement in client satisfaction and prenatal care utili­zation. this model of care has implications for the planning and provision of prenatal services within public health sys­tem, which is moving toward a better quality health care, and increasing use of services