A Comparative Study of the Rehabilitation Patients’ Satisfaction With Public and Private Centers

Abstract

Introduction: The success of rehabilitation centers depends on several factors, one of the most important of which is patient’s satisfaction. Therefore, suitable instruments must be used to assess the quality of services in rehabilitation centers.
Materials and Methods: In this research, we used the random sampling method to select the sample and the survey research method to collect data. The statistical population included all patients visiting the selected rehabilitation centers of Tehran City. In this regard, 4 rehabilitation centers; Rofaydeh Rehabilitation Hospital (public), Shohadaye Tajrish Hospital (public), Imam Zadeh Hassan Rehabilitation Center (private), and Arman Rehabilitation Center (private) were selected. Given the infinite statistical population size, the sample size was calculated using the scientific research methodology and Cochran’s sample size formula. The statistical sample size estimated for the infinite statistical population of this research was 486 with 95% confidence level. The research variables were assessed using a researcher-made questionnaire called the “patient’s satisfaction with rehabilitation services questionnaire”. The content and face validity of the questionnaire was approved by the experts. The estimated reliability of the questionnaire was 0.83 using Cronbach's α coefficient method. The descriptive and inferential statistics methods (i.e. the independent t test and 1-way analysis of variance) were used to analyze the data.
Results: The research findings reflected the clients’ satisfaction with the rehabilitation services and their components (i.e. reception services, therapist services, and waiting time) in public and private hospitals. Also a significant difference was found between the levels of patients’ satisfaction with rehabilitation services in private and public hospitals (P≤0.005), and clients were more satisfied with the services of public hospitals than private hospitals.
Conclusion: In addition, there was no significant difference between the levels of patients’ satisfaction with rehabilitation services with respect to demographic variables (including age, education, gender, and respondent), but a significant difference was observed in terms of ward. Finally, the results of the Friedman test revealed that satisfaction with therapist services had the first rank followed by patient’s satisfaction with the waiting time and then with reception (admission) services.