Service quality of psychiatric care from patients perspective; a descriptive cross sectional study conducted in National Hospital, Sri Lanka

Abstract

Introduction: In Sri Lanka, mental health has been given a low priority, despite one out of ten in population suffering from a mental illness. Most patients are treated and followed up at psychiatric clinics at government hospitals. Methods: A descriptive cross sectional study was conducted in the psychiatric clinics in the National Hospital, Sri Lanka (NHSL). The objective of the study is to assess the quality of the services provided by the psychiatric clinics from patient's perspective and to identify the factors affecting the quality of the service. A sample of 292 clinic attendees in remission, followed up at the clinics for =1year, were selected using systematic sampling. Perception and expectations on five quality dimensions of SERVQUAL model (tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy) was assessed using pre-tested, interviewer administered questionnaire with 30 items, on 05 points Likrt's scale. Results: Tangibility dimension scored the highest mean (1.4816) and assurance scored lowest mean (1.1054), for expectations. Responsiveness scored the highest mean (2.9816) and tangibility scored the lowest mean (2.1379) for perceptions. Overall perception mean (2.548) regarding quality of service was higher than over all expectation mean (1.218) with a positive gap (1.2). Perception of tangibility was significantly associated with level of education (p = 0.004), ethnicity (p = 0.010) and unemployment had a significant impact on dimension empathy (p = 0.03). Conclusions: Perception of the psychiatric services at NHSL was found to be better than their expectation. Even though results showed positive quality gap in relation to patient perspective, most of the facilities should be improved.