Abstract

Background and Aim: Visual impairment affects people's quality of life. Since the effect of rehabilitation services is measured by improving in quality of life, this study was performed to evaluate the effect of rehabilitation services on quality of life in the blind.

Materials and Methods: 121 blind and low vision people who covered by Zahedan Welfare Organization were studied by census method in this descriptive analytical study. Data was collected using demographic questionnaire (including demographic information and rehabilitation services information in the people) and quality of life questionnaire for the blind. This questionnaire was translated to Persian by Tavakol et al wich its and validity and reliability was assessed with using content validity and test-re-test method, respectively (0.89

Results: T-test results showed the mean score of quality of life significantly higher in patients who had rehabilitation service than persons deprived of services (p=0.03). Mann-Whitney test showed these patients have significantly higher quality of life in mobility domain (p=0.01) and self-care (p<0.001).

Conclusion: According to the results, developing rehabilitation services and providing social programs for the blind is suggested.

Keywords: rehabilitation service, quality of life, blind people, low vision people

Background and Aim: Importance-Performance Analysis (IPA) is a technique widely used in developing marketing strategies and improving products or service quality. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the quality of rehabilitation services in two aspects of importance and satisfaction with performance in four selected centers in Tehran by using IPA and also examine the relationship between demographic variables and dimensions of the service quality.

Materials and Methods: This is a cross-sectional study which was done among the 196 patients who visited four selected rehabilitation centers in Tehran (Helal­-e­-Ahmar, Molavi, Emam Khomeini and Shafa). A questionnaire was used to assess the quality of services in these centers. Data were analyzed using SPSS software version 17.

Results : According to the results, the quality of services in selected centers took place in the first quarter of Importance-Performance Analysis that means they are in desirable situation. In addition, no significant difference was observed among importance and performance of dimensions of service quality and age and sex variables (P>0.05). But there was a correlation between importance (P=0.04) and satisfaction with performance (P=0.03) in tangibles dimension and also between importance and level of education variable in assurance dimension (P=0.01).

Conclusion : Although the selected centers were in the favorable situation, but the managers should be aware of strengths and weaknesses of the organization so that they provide quality improvement and increase customer’s satisfaction.

Key words : Customer satisfaction, Quality of services, Rehabilitation services, Importance-Performance Analysis