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Measuring Patients’ Perception on the Quality of Care in the Democratic Republic of Congo Using a Modified, Service Quality Scale (SERVQUAL)

Nyandwe J, Mapatano MA, Lussamba PS, Kandala NB and Kayembe PK

Introduction: Patient's perspective on the quality of care is becoming increasingly important in questioning the quality of care and discussing reforms needed to improve it. Indeed, assessing healthcare quality and understanding how patients perceive quality of care are crucial in such a rapidly changing and increasingly competitive market. Therefore, meeting patient needs and creating healthcare standards are imperative.

The aim of this study was to use SERVQUAL translated cross-culturally, and adapted and modified for the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in order to demonstrate whether the patients’ perception of the quality of care is dependent on the socio-economic category of the patient. We also want to know the reliability of this instrument.

Methodology: Six hundred and ten patients participated in the study. Statistical analysis used SPSS 22.0 (IBM Corp-U.S.A.), with p<0.05 being taken as statistical significant. Descriptive and analytical methods applied Pearson correlation index for normal distributions, and ANOVA test comparison of group means were analyzed by the Chisquare test where required.

Results: The reliability of the scale was excellent at 0.851. We have found a direct relationship between the perceptions by patients of quality of care and their socioeconomic status.

Conclusion: SERVQUAL will allow patients to express their opinion regarding the quality of care provided for them. It will also be an opportunity for decision-makers to improve the quality of care, based on patients’ desiderata.