Avaliação da qualidade de serviços de saúde

: o caso do Instituto CUF

Abstract

The main goal of this study was the development and the application of a questionnaire to assess and analyse the quality of the services provided by a private healthcare unit, identify the main sources of its notoriety, and the key opinion and decision makers to the choice of health services. The methodology adopted on this work was an empirical study that was based on a SERVQUAL model adapted to the particularities of health services as well as the Portuguese language and culture. The same questionnaire was validated through the use of a pre-test version, and the reliability was assessed through Cronbach´s Alpha. The valid sample was of 65 clients from the same private health institution, which was treated and stratified through descriptive statistics, as well as through multivariate statistics. It was found that in all of the 6 service dimensions analysed the perceptions were significantly lower than expectations, and the reliability dimension was the one perceived as more important and the tangibility dimension as the less important. As key opinion and decision makers were identified the friends, the relatives and the doctors themselves. We believe that this work, through the development of a valid and reliable tool to access the quality of a health service, is an important asset to knowledge and improvement of the health care services in Portugal.

Date of Award	19 Jun 2014
Original language	Portuguese
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Ana Filipa da Rocha de Castro e Côrte-Real (Supervisor)