Expectations and satisfaction of elderly people with health services provided at a public nursing home in Iran

Resumen

The population of the elderly has grown steadilyin recent years and process of bringing them tothe nursing home has risen. Based on availableevidence the elderly care system is challenging, complex,multivariate, timely and continuous. Assessing satisfactionwith health services is a measure of service quality and away to improve its delivery. This study examines the expectationsof the elderly about providing health servicesand satisfaction with the services provided in one of theIranian nursing homes. This descriptive study was conductedin 2017 in the Kahrizak elderly community as oneof the governmental centers in the capital of Iran. All ofthe elderly who were willing to participate in the research,156 people, were evaluated for the importance of theservices and satisfaction of the services provided by theelderly satisfaction questionnaire on services provided inthe nursing home created by Lapre and wright in 2013.The demographic variables of the elderly were gatheredusing relevant questionnaire. After validity and reliabilityof questionnaire, the data were analyzed using descriptiveand inferential statistics in SPSS software version 22.The mean scores of services that elderly people considerand expect from nursing home is reported to be 115.05 ±14.29 (out of 5 score = 4.26). The mean score of servicesprovided to the elderly in Kahrizak nursing home was101.17 ± 10.43 (out of 5 score = 3.74). The mean differencebetween the two variables of the elderly servicesexpected to be carried out and services provided at thecenter was 13.87± 19.13 which is statistically significant.In this study, most of the demographic variables such asage, sex, marital status of the elderly have no statisticaleffect on the expected services and the satisfaction of theelderly, and the difference between them (P> 0.05). Theresults show a relatively good level of satisfaction amongthe elderly with the services provided in the Kahrizak nursinghome, while there is a significant difference with theexpectations of the elderly from the health care systemfrom their point of view. This reflects the need for a codifiedprogram to improve the provision of health servicesbased on the needs and priorities of the elderly in the elderlycare centers.