Service Quality Gap among People Receiving Anti-Aging Medicine
Date Issued
2015
Date
2015
Author(s)
Guo, Tay-Woei
Abstract
※Background and Objective: Since the initiating of National Health Insurance (NHI), it led to a dramatic change in healthcare environment. Followed by a transition to an aging society and the transformation of population structure and diseases patterns in Taiwan, more and more people have taken notice of the emerging health technology of anti-aging medicine and preventive medicine. However, under the reimbursement policy of NHI, most of the anti-aging medicines are not covered while patients in need should fully pay their regimens by themselves, which cost approximately thousands to tens of thousands. As a result, how well delivered anti-aging medicines and health management services conform to the patients’ expectations will be an important issue in the anti-aging and preventive medicines industries. ※Methods: This cross-sectional study was performed in a few selected anti-aging medicine agencies that were highly praised in the industries. A self-developed questionnaire based on the characteristics of PZB Service Quality Model and SERVQUAL Model were delivered and recovered from 6th May to 15th June 2015. A Likert Scale was used as a survey tool to examine the difference between expected and perceived service quality. “Provider” is the medical team of the anti-aging medicine agencies, and “Client” is the patient who receives the anti-aging medicine services. In terms of Client, 78 questionnaires were sent out whilst 60 subjects responded (response rate: 76.92%). On the part of Provider, 45 questionnaires were sent out while 39 subjects responded (response rate: 86.67%). Overall, 99 effective samples were obtained (response rate: 80.49%). The collected samples were analyzed through some statistical tests, including independent-samples t test, paired-samples t test, one-way ANOVA, and factor analysis. ※Results: The self-developed questionnaire was validated by reliability test with a Cronbach’s alpha over 0.9 and with a Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin value over 0.8 in factor analysis. The factor loadings derived from Principal Component Analysis and Varimax Rotation showed that all the items exceeded 0.5 except 2 items among them. Nevertheless, the 2 items were retained in the consideration of the well-developed PZB Service Quality Model and SERVQUAL Model. The results showed that all 5 dimensions in the difference between client’s expectation and provider’s perception (Gap 1) still had much room for improvement, with the largest gaps observed in “responsiveness”(mean: 0.552) and “empathy”(mean:0.505). Furthermore, the gap between the clients'' expectations and their perceptions of the quality of provided services (Gap 5) is much higher in the dimensions of ""reliability"" with a mean of 1.867, and “empathy” with a mean of 1.657. Among the Gap 5 and the studied clients'' demographic characteristics, “age group 51-65 y/o” had higher service quality satisfaction than “age group 41-50 y/o” and “31-40 y/o” in dimensions of “responsiveness” and “empathy”; on the other hand, clients with higher income level had higher service quality satisfaction in “responsiveness”. In addition, among the Gap 1 and the studied providers'' demographic characteristics, subjects whose occupation is “physician” had more conservative attitude in anticipating clients’ expectation in the dimensions of “reliability”, “responsiveness” and “empathy”. ※Conclusion: Overall, the results of the present study suggested providers should prioritise the clients'' views in the service quality dimensions of “reliability”, “responsiveness” and “empathy”, in order to abate the gaps or even surpass clients’ expectation. Although the gap in the dimension of tangibles was smaller, enhancing the performance in this gap could strengthen clients’ perception to the improvement of service quality. According to the result of further analysis of demographic characteristics, providers should devote more attention to clients younger than 51-65 y/o or with lower income level (unwealthy). The medical teams of anti-aging medicine agencies should interact and communicate with clients more frequently in order to well inform them of the detail in the course of treatment and avert unappropriate expectation to the treatment outcome. Therefore, it might avoid further deteriorating clients’ satisfaction to the service quality.
Subjects
Anti-Aging Medicine
Service Quality
Service Quality Gap
PZB Service Quality Model
SERVQUAL Model
Type
thesis
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