Quality Assessment of Services Provided by Comprehensive Health Centers in Birjand (East of Iran) Based on SERVQUAL Model

Zahra  Yoosefi; Dorsa  Abbasi; Mohammad Hassan  Zangouei Dovvom; Bita  Bijari

doi:10.18502/jchr.v14i28.20717

Zahra Yoosefi Department of Pediatric, Faculty of Medicine, Birjand University of Medical Sciences, Birjand, Iran
Dorsa Abbasi Student Research Committee, Birjand University of Medical Sciences (BUMS), Birjand, Iran
Mohammad Hassan Zangouei Dovvom Department of Educational Sciences, Farhangian University, Tehran, Iran
Bita Bijari Cardiovascular Diseases Research Center, Department of Community Medicine, Birjand University of Medical Sciences (BUMS), Birjand, Iran

DOI: https://doi.org/10.18502/jchr.v14i28.20717

Keywords: SERVQUAL Model, Health Centers, Quality

Abstract

Background: Health centers play an important role in improving the health of society in the structure of the health system in Iran. This study was conducted to evaluate the quality of health services based on SERVQUAL Model (Service Quality Model) in Birjand Comprehensive Health Centers based on the perspective of the clients in 2021.

Methods: In this cross-sectional (descriptive-analytical) study, 257 health service users referring to Birjand Comprehensive Health Centers participated. The sampling method was a quota from 8 Comprehensive Health Centers in Brijand. Demographic characteristics and SERVQUAL questionnaire were completed by the participants. Furthermore, data were analyzed using Mann-Whitney U, Wilcoxon, and Kruskal-Wallis tests at a significant level of 0.05 in SPSS (16) software.

Results: The average scores of health service users’ perceptions and expectations were 5.80 ± 0.56 and 6.14 ± 0.37, respectively. The average score of the gap between perceptions and expectations was also -0.34 ± 0.64. There was a significant difference between the average score of perceptions and expectation of service quality.

Conclusion: Due to the gap between perceptions and expectations of service quality, it seems that the health system policymakers should plan a program in order to improve the quality of services based on the factors affecting the quality of services.