Service QualityMeasurement of the Student Counseling Center Using SERVQUALModel

Authors

1 Department of Educational Sciences, Counseling and Guidance, University of Bojnord, Bojnord, IR Iran

2 University of Bojnord, Bojnord, IR Iran

Abstract

Abstract Background: The services that student counseling center present play an important role in students’ psychological health. There- ore,measurement of services quality can contribute to a higher quality of these services. Objectives: This studywas conducted in order tomeasure service quality of student counseling center at the university of Bojnord. Methods: In this cross-sectional descriptive research participated 253 students who referred to student counseling center at the university of Bojnord fromMarch to June 2015. A questionnaire adapted to SERVQUALmodel was used to collect the data. Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used to analyze the data. Results: The result of this study showed that there were some differences between students’ perceptions and their expectations of counseling services quality (Z = -12.91; P < 0.0001). The result also indicated that therewere significant differences between students’ perceptions and expectations in all of the five dimensions of SERVQUALmodel. Themost significant gapwas related to the tangibles and the less significant one was related to sympathy dimension. Conclusions: By studying the gap between perceptions and expectations of students fromcounseling services, we can provide the base for developing appropriate programs for the improvement of counseling services.

Keywords