Quality of Care in Kenya's Clinics: A Hierarchical Linear Approach

Michele Steinmetz, Pennsylvania State University

The relationship between the quality of care in clinics in Kenya and the total children ever born to a woman will be examined utilizing the 1993 and 1998 Kenya Demographic and Health Surveys (KDHS), the 1989 Kenya Situation Analysis Study (KSAS) and the 1999 Kenya Service Provision Assessment Survey (KSPA). Quality of care is measured at the district-level in Kenya. Quality of care in this study is measured by: choices of oral contraceptives available in a clinic; observation of the interpersonal relations of the provider; exchange of information between the provider and the client; technical competence of the provider; and mechanisms in a clinic to provide for the continuity and follow up of services and treatment. Hierarchical linear modeling will be used to examine how the quality of care measured at the district-level as well as a woman's individual characteristics affects the number of children ever born to a woman.