ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Diet satisfaction looks at the satisfaction of inpatients with hospital food. It is an important determinant of the overall patient’s perception of hospital services. Diet satisfaction is multidimensional and deals with the expectations of the food, actual experience which can be evaluated as food quality. It is a fundamental constituent of patients' nutritional status that warrants considerable attention during hospital admission. The hospital environment may exert notable influence on patients' dietary satisfaction, attributed to a multitude of factors, including food quality, diversity, and punctuality of meals. Additionally, patients may exhibit varied nutritional requirements and preferences, potentially affecting their dietary satisfaction during hospitalization.
OBJECTIVES: To determine diet satisfaction among inpatients in the University of Benin Teaching Hospital as well as provide relevant data so as to improve patient satisfaction in UBTH.
METHODOLOGY: A descriptive cross-sectional study design was used for this study. Six hundred inpatients in the University of Benin Teaching Hospital were selected for this study using a multi staged sampling technique. Data was collected using interviewer administered questionnaire adapted from Acute Care Hospital Foodservice Patient Satisfaction Questionnaire (ACHFPSQ) and modified Comstock scale and analyzed using the IBM SPSS version 22 with the level of significance set at p < 0.05.
Data was categorized and analyzed using descriptive statistics, frequencies and percentage based on the total number of respondents. Univariate analysis was carried out on the sociodemographic data to analyze the sample population, bivariate analysis was done to determine the relationship between variables such as: age, sex, diet satisfaction, etc. Multivariate analysis was done using multiple logistic regression to identify the correlation between variables. The results were presented with tables, charts and prose.
RESULT: Majority of the respondents 55.5% (n = 333) were females and 62.3% (n = 374) of the respondents were married. A higher proportion, 31% (n = 186) of the sampled UBTH inpatients fell between 30 – 39 years of age with a mean of 40 ± 13.1. Respondents were mostly 31.3% (n = 187.8) Bini, 90.5% (n = 543) practiced Christianity. 43% (n = 258) of the respondents had secondary level of education, 36.7% (n = 220.2) had tertiary level of education, 45.3% (n = 271.8) fell within Rank 2 of the ISCO classification and half of respondents and 51.4% (n = 308.4) earned under ₦55,000 as the average household income. Almost all, 85% (n = 510) of respondents regularly consumed hospital meals with plate wastage occurring more 16.8% (n = 100.8) at dinner and breakfast being consumed more 56.4% (n = 338.4). Two thirds, 66% (n = 396) of respondents perceived the food to be of poor quality, 67% (n = 402) had an overall level of dissatisfaction with the meals offered to the respondents.
The significant predictors of diet satisfaction among respondents in this study were regularity of meal consumption, age, gender and employment status.
CONCLUSION: Majority of the patients consumed hospital food regularly with a high level of unsatisfaction with the quality of meals majority. Effectively improving the quality of food would entail putting the determinants of diet satisfaction into consideration.
Keywords: Diet satisfaction, Food quality, Inpatient, Perception, Quality, Satisfaction, UBTH.
