Assessing Service Quality Dimensions and Their Effect on Patients Satisfaction in Bahrain Primary Healthcare Using a Modified Version of the General Practice Assessment Questionnaire

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to have an instrument for assessing Bahrain healthcare. For such purpose, we used the General Practice Assessment Questionnaire (GPAQ-R2) and a modified shorter version of it, GPAQ-R2-BDF. The GPAQ-R2-BDF was modified based on the healthcare system and the cultural behavior in Bahrain. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted at the general practice (GP) of the Bahrain Defense Force (BDF) Hospital from March 2018 to April 2018. Five hundred and twenty patients visiting the clinics completed the original GPAQ-R2 questionnaire. A validity, reliability, and rotated factor analysis were performed on the original and modified questionnaire. Patients’ characteristics such as age, gender, long-standing health conditions, and employment status were recorded. The score responses of the questionnaire were analyzed, and areas of weakness were identified. RESULTS: The validity, reliability, and correlation matrix values of the original GPAQ-R2 in the GP access and GP practice components were unsatisfactory in BDF hospital assessment. However, the modified GPAQ-R2-BDF revealed higher overall validity, reliability, and correlation matrix, and the rotated factor analysis showed values between 0.704 and 0.928. Furthermore, the reliability values ranged from 0.77 to 0.936. As for patients’ satisfaction scores were highest (~90%) in confidence and enablement, and doctor care but lowest in GP access, and GP practice (~77%) (P<0.001). On the other hand, patients with long-standing health conditions were less satisfied with doctor care, confidence and enablement, and GP access (p<0.05–0.01). CONCLUSION: The present findings demonstrated high reliability and validity for the GPAQ-R2-BDF, which supports its use to assess Bahrain’s GP healthcare system. Furthermore, such an instrument should be adapted in a longitudinal research design to assess Bahrain’s healthcare system better. Lastly, BDF hospital healthcare clinics showed concerns in GP access, GP practice, and quality services for patients with long-standing health conditions requiring strategic interventions to reach better quality services.