Expectations of owners of pets with cancer and owners of pets free of oncologic disease in veterinary health services: a comparative study
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2015
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O cancro é uma das principais causas de morte em animais de companhia e sua prevalência continua a aumentar principalmente devido à maior esperança de vida do nossos animais de estimação, resultante de um aperfeiçoamento da medicina preventiva, terapêutica e nutrição. A ligação entre humano e animal tornou-se mais forte do que nunca, nas últimas décadas. Consequentemente, proprietários e veterinários terão de lidar mais frequentemente com a gestão de animais com doença oncológica. O objetivo deste trabalho é o de descobrir as expectativas dos proprietários de animais com doença oncológica. Esta medição será feita recorrendo a uma ferramenta de medição de qualidade do serviço designada de SERVQUAL, com a esperança que estes resultados possam dar respostas sobre as necessidades deste grupo especial de clientes. Este estudo recorreu a uma amostra de 119 clientes veterinários, 51 donos de animais com cancro e 68 donos de animais sem doença oncológica, de um Hospital Veterinário localizado no Porto, Portugal, entre 1 de Janeiro 2013 e 28 de Fevereiro 2015. Os resultados demonstraram que ambos os grupos de clientes veterinários dão preferência à dimensão Empatia da qualidade dos serviços (valor da mediana grupo Oncológico 6,80; grupo Geral 6,60). Os clientes apreciam veterinários que valorizam as opiniões dos clientes bem como hospitais veterinários que proporcionam cuidados de saúde individualizados. Para estes clientes, é essencial que os hospitais veterinários forneçam serviços com horários de trabalho alargado e que façam da sua principal missão o bem-estar dos animais de companhia. Foram encontradas ainda diferenças significativas relativas à dimensão Confiança entre os dois grupos de clientes, com um valor p= 0,045. Estas diferenças provavelmente não se devem ao acaso, mas sim porque os donos de animais com cancro têm realmente diferentes exigências em relação aos serviços veterinários.
Resultados obtidos na medição da qualidade de serviços dizem-nos que muitos clientes com animais que sofrem de doença oncológica deixaram as instalações com expectativas por satisfazer, especialmente nas dimensões da Empatia (-0,016) e Fiabilidade (-0,071), concluindo assim que a insatisfação por parte dos clientes pode ainda prevalecer neste grupo.
Ao determinar as percepções que os profissionais veterinários tinham àcerca das expectativas dos seu clientes, foi notável a tendência que médicos e enfermeiros veterinários tinham para sobrevalorizar a dimensão dos Tangíveis (valor da mediana 6,75), quando ambos os grupos de clientes conferiram relativamente pouca importância a esta dimensão, particularmente o grupo Oncológico (valor da mediana 6,25). Estes resultados podem levar-nos a inferir que os profissionais veterinários não estão completamente a par das necessidades dos seus clientes.
Poucos estudos têm sido realizados em medicina veterinária com a intenção de descobrir as expectativas dos clientes veterinários àcerca dos serviços. Em relação aos donos de animais de estimação com doenças oncológicas, as informações sobre as suas necessidades são praticamente inexistentes. É possível que os resultados deste estudo possam dar uma direção à comunidade veterinária para uma melhor compreensão das necessidades dos clientes, elevando assim a excelência da nossa profissão aos olhos do público.
Cancer is one of the primary causes of companion animal death and its prevalence continues to rise. This is mainly due to the greater lifespan of our pet, resultant of better nutrition, preventive and therapeutic medicine and likely to The Bond between human and animal that has become stronger than ever, in the past decades. Consequently, owners and veterinarians will have to deal with the management of pets with oncologic disease more often. The objective of this thesis is to study the expectations of owners that necessarily need to handle with the uncertainty of cancer on behalf of their own pets recurring to a service quality measurement tool named SERVQUAL, with hope that the results will share light on the necessities of this special group of veterinary clients. This study used a sample of 119 veterinary clients, 51 owners of pets with cancer and 68 owners of pets free from oncologic disease, from a Veterinary Hospital located in Porto, Portugal, between 1st January 2013 and 28th February 2015. The results demonstrated that both groups of clients in this facility of veterinary services preferred features from the Empathy dimension of service quality (median score for the Oncologic group 6,80 and 6,60 for the General group), by SERVQUAL’s standards. Clients value veterinarians that value their client’s opinions and ideas and hospitals that provide individual care. For these clients, it is essential veterinary hospitals to provide extended working hours and to set as their primary mission the welfare of their pets. There were significant differences regarding the Assurance dimension of quality (p-value= 0,045), when comparing Oncologic and General groups. These differences were most likely not due to random events, but because owners of pets with cancer have indeed different insights regarding veterinary services, in contrast with the remaining customers. Also, other findings determine that many clients with pets bearing oncologic disease leave veterinary healthcare facilities with expectations unmet, particularly in the Empathy (-0,016) and Reliability (-0,071) dimensions, thus concluding that client dissatisfaction might yet prevail within this group. When determining the veterinary professionals’ perceptions of their clients’ expectations, it was noticeable that the veterinarians and veterinary nurses had a tendency of overvaluing the Tangibles dimension (median score 6,75), when both client study samples gave this dimension relatively poor importance, most specially the Oncologic group (median score 6,25). This result may lead us to say that professionals are not fully aware of their clients’ requirements and concerns. Few studies have been conducted in Veterinary medicine with the intent of discovering veterinary client expectations with services and in the particular aspect of owners with oncologic pets, the information regarding their needs in veterinary health care is almost inexistent. The findings of this study will perhaps direction the veterinary community to a better understanding in our customers’ needs and concerns, elevating our professions’ excellence in the eyes of the public.
Cancer is one of the primary causes of companion animal death and its prevalence continues to rise. This is mainly due to the greater lifespan of our pet, resultant of better nutrition, preventive and therapeutic medicine and likely to The Bond between human and animal that has become stronger than ever, in the past decades. Consequently, owners and veterinarians will have to deal with the management of pets with oncologic disease more often. The objective of this thesis is to study the expectations of owners that necessarily need to handle with the uncertainty of cancer on behalf of their own pets recurring to a service quality measurement tool named SERVQUAL, with hope that the results will share light on the necessities of this special group of veterinary clients. This study used a sample of 119 veterinary clients, 51 owners of pets with cancer and 68 owners of pets free from oncologic disease, from a Veterinary Hospital located in Porto, Portugal, between 1st January 2013 and 28th February 2015. The results demonstrated that both groups of clients in this facility of veterinary services preferred features from the Empathy dimension of service quality (median score for the Oncologic group 6,80 and 6,60 for the General group), by SERVQUAL’s standards. Clients value veterinarians that value their client’s opinions and ideas and hospitals that provide individual care. For these clients, it is essential veterinary hospitals to provide extended working hours and to set as their primary mission the welfare of their pets. There were significant differences regarding the Assurance dimension of quality (p-value= 0,045), when comparing Oncologic and General groups. These differences were most likely not due to random events, but because owners of pets with cancer have indeed different insights regarding veterinary services, in contrast with the remaining customers. Also, other findings determine that many clients with pets bearing oncologic disease leave veterinary healthcare facilities with expectations unmet, particularly in the Empathy (-0,016) and Reliability (-0,071) dimensions, thus concluding that client dissatisfaction might yet prevail within this group. When determining the veterinary professionals’ perceptions of their clients’ expectations, it was noticeable that the veterinarians and veterinary nurses had a tendency of overvaluing the Tangibles dimension (median score 6,75), when both client study samples gave this dimension relatively poor importance, most specially the Oncologic group (median score 6,25). This result may lead us to say that professionals are not fully aware of their clients’ requirements and concerns. Few studies have been conducted in Veterinary medicine with the intent of discovering veterinary client expectations with services and in the particular aspect of owners with oncologic pets, the information regarding their needs in veterinary health care is almost inexistent. The findings of this study will perhaps direction the veterinary community to a better understanding in our customers’ needs and concerns, elevating our professions’ excellence in the eyes of the public.
Descrição
Dissertação de Mestrado Integrado em Medicina Veterinária
Palavras-chave
Medicina veterinária , Serviço hospitalar de oncologia , Qualidade dos serviços , Expectativas dos clientes