The Quality Gaps in Education of the Iranian Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Residents

Abstract

Background: The aim of this study was to assess the quality gap of education in physical medicine and rehabilitation ‎(PM&R) residency programs after translation and validation of the Farsi (Persian) version of the SERVQUAL questionnaire. The SERVQUAL questionnaire is a global quality assessment tool designed by Parasuraman et al. and it has been used in many projects including educational programs.

Methods: The SERVQUAL questionnaire was validated before being used to determine the expectations and perceptions of all Iranian PM&R residents regarding educational systems.

Results: For the purpose of content validity measurement, the content validity index (CVI) of the whole questionnaire (0.90) and the content validity ratio (CVR) of each question (0.75 or 1) were calculated. The calculated CVI and CVR were acceptable. The Cronbach’s alpha coefficient, which was used for the purpose of reliability measurement, was 0.917.

Conclusion: The Farsi (Persian) version of the SERVQUAL questionnaire is a valid and reliable tool for assessing medical education quality. The highest gap was in the empathy dimension and the lowest gap was in the tangibility dimension. Therefore, the education system must mainly focus on these aspects of quality to improve itself.