The Dynamics of the Parental Satisfaction of the Children Receiving Occupational Therapy Services in a Resource-Limited Setting

Abstract

The need to continuously appraise the satisfaction of the recipients of Occupational therapy (OT) services cannot be over-emphasized especially in settings where the practice can be best described as emerging and where there seems to be an inconsistent utilization of the service despite obvious significant positive outcomes. This study aims to evaluate the dynamics of the satisfaction of the parents of the children receiving paediatric Occupational therapy services in Nigeria. A cross-sectional survey of 100 parents of children receiving OT paediatric service in six Tertiary Health Institutions in two geopolitical zones in Nigeria was conducted. The participants were recruited with convenient sampling. Data was collected with Measures of Process of Care (MPOC-20) and analyzed with analysis of variance (ANOVA) on SPSS 22.0 Version. Findings showed that the parents' level of satisfaction was to a fairly great extent (Aggregate Mean =5.43) and there was no significant difference in the level of satisfaction of the parents based on gender or the geographical locations of the parents (F-Value of 2.25 and P = 0.56 of > α =0.05). Despite the limited resources and relatively- low awareness of OT in Nigeria, parents of children receiving Occupational therapy services are satisfied, though to a fairly great extent. Parents' expectations and yearnings for quality OT service are uniforms across the different zone of Nigeria. Therefore, it is recommended that OT practitioners in low and middle-income countries should from time- to -time evaluate the perception of their clients on the services provided to foster quality and collaborative care.