MARITAL STATUS AND EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT AS PREDICTORS OF CLIENT SATISFACTION WITH PRIMARY HEALTHCARE SERVICE QUALITY IN YOBE STATE, NIGERIA

Client satisfaction in resource-constrained places like Yobe State remains unsatisfactory due to insecurity, infrastructure deficiencies, and personnel shortages, even though primary healthcare (PHC) is the cornerstone of Nigeria’s health system. Key socio-demographic characteristics such as marital status and educational attainment impact health-seeking behaviors, expectations, and service perceptions. Clients with greater levels of education tend to have higher quality standards, and married people frequently have social support. Data from northeastern Nigeria is limited, despite worldwide evidence relating these characteristics to satisfaction. In order to inform targeted interventions for equitable, patient-centered care, this study seeks to understand the relationship between marital status and educational attainment as predictors of client satisfaction with the quality of primary health care services in Yobe State. Yobe State's urban and rural facilities were sampled using a multi-stage sampling approach for a cross-sectional descriptive survey, which yielded 397 customers. Accessibility, effectiveness, health education, and interpersonal interactions were some of the aspects measured via a validated 5-point Likert-scale questionnaire that was utilized for data collection (Cronbach's α = 0.86). Educational level (none/primary, secondary, tertiary), marital status (single, married, divorced), and other demographic variables were compared using a one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) to measure satisfaction. There were significant group variances detected by post-hoc LSD analysis (p < 0.05). In terms of both interpersonal care and provider competence, overall satisfaction was high (M = 3.62 > 3.00 criterion). Clients who are married (M = 143.86) or divorced (M = 143.81) reported higher levels of satisfaction compared to those who are single (M = 138.03; p = 0.013), according to an analysis of variance (F(2,394) = 3.34, p = 0.037). Although customers with a secondary education scored the highest (M = 146.77), no significant differences were found by education level (F(3,393) = 2.224, p = 0.085). Consistent with social support theory, the results highlight the importance of marriage as a buffer against discontent in the face of systemic restrictions, and the lack of relevance for schooling indicates the prevalence of homogeneous experiences in low-resource contexts. Despite high levels of satisfaction, there are clear infrastructural, personnel, and community education needs. To improve PHC usage and UHC in comparable situations, our results suggest multivariate models and context-specific changes.