Servicescapes in healthcare: A qualitative study on the Elderly's perception of an aged care facility

Abstract

OBJECTIVE The paper aims to understand how the elderly perceive the healthcare services of their aged care facilities. This paper explores different dimensions of servicescape elements, which ultimately affect the development of healthcare services. DESIGN Both naturalistic observations and in-depth interviews were conducted to discover the perceptions servicesape elements. RESULTS The authors discovered that servicescape elements rely not only on physical, social and socially symbolic dimensions but also on cultural dimensions. CONCLUSIONS This study uses the elderly home context in City of Harlingen, Rio Grande Valley, Texas, USA, and finds support to Rosenbaum and Massiah [1]'s multidimensional model and suggests improvements in servicescape elements. We found that factors such as ambience, signage, layout, and socially symbolic structure at the aged care facility, were highly appreciated by the elder residents. Other factors such as privacy, quiet environment, and social interactions among patients via group activities require improvements and further attention. Findings of the study can be generalized in other similar social contexts, particularly in improving Asia Pacific region's healthcare services.