Bangladesh’s older population is growing faster than the rest of the world and challenging the existing health system, which must be reformed to ensure geriatric care. The main objective of this study was to measure the existing gap in perceived and expected healthcare needs among older people through the use of Kano Model and propose measures to eliminate the gap. We collected data from 500 respondents (41.6% male and 58.4% female) in Narsingdi and Narayanganj districts using a cross-sectional research design. The gap between the older adults’ perceived and expected healthcare needs was assessed using a structured questionnaire with 28 items (using the Kano Model) that could be answered positively and negatively using a five-point Likert scale (ranging from ‘very satisfied’ to ‘very dissatisfied’). Descriptive statistics, T-tests, and multiple linear regression were carried out. The findings showed where care services for older people in the study districts, comes close to matching their expectations and areas where it falls far short (cumulative expectations mean score was 118.13, while the perception score was 50.54, resulting in expectation gap of mean score of 67.59). The Kano model questionnaire showed that 12 of 28 geriatric health service qualities were classified as Must-Be quality and eight as attractive or delighters. Type of residence (β= -0.264, p < 0.001), quality of life (β = 0.227, p < 0.001), marital status (β = -0.104, p = 0.047), and educational status (β = -0.124, p = 0.015) were significant predictors of older population healthcare needs and expectation. In the Bangladesh context, the application of the Kano Model provides healthcare practitioners with a detailed understanding of their service quality levels from the patient satisfaction perspective. Reforming and modifying the country’s existing healthcare structure services for older adults while keeping these categorized attributes in mind will likely result in a safe and healthy environment for them.
Hossain et al. (Sat,) studied this question.