Comparison of veterinary health services expectations and perceptions between oncologic pet owners, non-oncologic pet owners and veterinary staff using the SERVQUAL methodology
Aim: Client satisfaction gained great importance in health care as a measurement of service quality. One of the most popular methods to evaluate client satisfaction is the SERVQUAL inquiry which measures service quality by evaluating client expectations and services towards a service in five dimensi...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Veterinary World
2016-11-01
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| Series: | Veterinary World |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.veterinaryworld.org/Vol.9/November-2016/18.pdf |
| _version_ | 1818652954933067776 |
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| author | Hugo Gregório Patricia Santos Isabel Pires Justina Prada Felisbina Luísa Queiroga |
| author_facet | Hugo Gregório Patricia Santos Isabel Pires Justina Prada Felisbina Luísa Queiroga |
| author_sort | Hugo Gregório |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Aim: Client satisfaction gained great importance in health care as a measurement of service quality. One of the most popular methods to evaluate client satisfaction is the SERVQUAL inquiry which measures service quality by evaluating client expectations and services towards a service in five dimensions: Tangibles, Empathy, Assurance, Reliability and Responsiveness.
Materials and Methods: In order to evaluate if owners of pets with cancer constitute a distinctive group from the general pet owner population and if these differences were perceived by the hospital staff we applied a SERVQUAL questionnaire to 51 owners of pet with cancer, 68 owners from the general pet population and 14 staff members.
Results: Owners of oncologic pets had different expectations of an ideal service granting importance to Assurance questions (6.75 vs 6.5, p= 0.045) while showing unmet needs in Reliability and Empathy dimensions. Veterinarians failed to understand these specificities and over evaluated characteristics of Tangible dimension (6.75 vs 6.25, p=0.027).
Conclusion: Owners of pet with cancer seem to constitute a specific subpopulation with special needs and veterinary staff should invest resources towards Assurance instead of privileging tangible aspects of veterinary services. By aligning professionals expectations with those of pet owners veterinarians can achieve better client satisfaction, improved compliance and stronger doctor-owner relationships. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-17T02:30:13Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-5aa5710029f14e959b2dc89ea05e9758 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 0972-8988 2231-0916 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-17T02:30:13Z |
| publishDate | 2016-11-01 |
| publisher | Veterinary World |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Veterinary World |
| spelling | doaj.art-5aa5710029f14e959b2dc89ea05e97582022-12-21T22:06:59ZengVeterinary WorldVeterinary World0972-89882231-09162016-11-019111275128110.14202/vetworld.2016.1275-1281Comparison of veterinary health services expectations and perceptions between oncologic pet owners, non-oncologic pet owners and veterinary staff using the SERVQUAL methodologyHugo Gregório0Patricia Santos1Isabel Pires2Justina Prada3Felisbina Luísa Queiroga4Veterinary Hospital Centre, Rua Manuel Pinto de Azevedo 118, 4100-320 Porto, Portugal; hugogregvet@hotmail.comDepartment of Veterinary Sciences, University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro, 5001-801 Vila Real, Portugal; patriciarebsantosvet@gmail.comAnimal and Veterinary Research Centre (CECAV), University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro, 5001-801 Vila Real, Portugal; ipires@utad.ptAnimal and Veterinary Research Centre (CECAV), University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro, 5001-801 Vila Real, Portugal; jprada@utad.ptCenter for Research and Technology of Agro-Environment and Biological Sciences (CITAB), University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro, 5001-801 Vila Real, Portugal; fqueirog@utad.ptAim: Client satisfaction gained great importance in health care as a measurement of service quality. One of the most popular methods to evaluate client satisfaction is the SERVQUAL inquiry which measures service quality by evaluating client expectations and services towards a service in five dimensions: Tangibles, Empathy, Assurance, Reliability and Responsiveness. Materials and Methods: In order to evaluate if owners of pets with cancer constitute a distinctive group from the general pet owner population and if these differences were perceived by the hospital staff we applied a SERVQUAL questionnaire to 51 owners of pet with cancer, 68 owners from the general pet population and 14 staff members. Results: Owners of oncologic pets had different expectations of an ideal service granting importance to Assurance questions (6.75 vs 6.5, p= 0.045) while showing unmet needs in Reliability and Empathy dimensions. Veterinarians failed to understand these specificities and over evaluated characteristics of Tangible dimension (6.75 vs 6.25, p=0.027). Conclusion: Owners of pet with cancer seem to constitute a specific subpopulation with special needs and veterinary staff should invest resources towards Assurance instead of privileging tangible aspects of veterinary services. By aligning professionals expectations with those of pet owners veterinarians can achieve better client satisfaction, improved compliance and stronger doctor-owner relationships.http://www.veterinaryworld.org/Vol.9/November-2016/18.pdfexpectationsoncologyperceptionsSERVQUALveterinary |
| spellingShingle | Hugo Gregório Patricia Santos Isabel Pires Justina Prada Felisbina Luísa Queiroga Comparison of veterinary health services expectations and perceptions between oncologic pet owners, non-oncologic pet owners and veterinary staff using the SERVQUAL methodology Veterinary World expectations oncology perceptions SERVQUAL veterinary |
| title | Comparison of veterinary health services expectations and perceptions between oncologic pet owners, non-oncologic pet owners and veterinary staff using the SERVQUAL methodology |
| title_full | Comparison of veterinary health services expectations and perceptions between oncologic pet owners, non-oncologic pet owners and veterinary staff using the SERVQUAL methodology |
| title_fullStr | Comparison of veterinary health services expectations and perceptions between oncologic pet owners, non-oncologic pet owners and veterinary staff using the SERVQUAL methodology |
| title_full_unstemmed | Comparison of veterinary health services expectations and perceptions between oncologic pet owners, non-oncologic pet owners and veterinary staff using the SERVQUAL methodology |
| title_short | Comparison of veterinary health services expectations and perceptions between oncologic pet owners, non-oncologic pet owners and veterinary staff using the SERVQUAL methodology |
| title_sort | comparison of veterinary health services expectations and perceptions between oncologic pet owners non oncologic pet owners and veterinary staff using the servqual methodology |
| topic | expectations oncology perceptions SERVQUAL veterinary |
| url | http://www.veterinaryworld.org/Vol.9/November-2016/18.pdf |
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