Office of Vocational Rehabilitation State Rehabilitation Council
Independent Customer Satisfaction Survey
Summary of Findings and Recommendations

Background and Method:

During Fiscal Year 1998, the OVR Rehabilitation Council addressed the Rehabilitation Act requirement that it conduct an independent customer satisfaction survey by contracting with a professional survey organization. The Bureau of Blindness and Visual Services Council was not able to undertake a similar project. Data concerning persons who are Blind refer only to those served in the general (OVR) program. All further references to the PA-RC or Council refer only to the OVR Rehabilitation Council. It should also be noted that this extensive project was only possible due to the generous support of OVR.

After much discussion, the Council's Satisfaction and Planing Committee elected to secure the services of consultants to write the Request for Proposals and to assist in reviewing the responses. These consultants were not permitted to submit a proposal. Holleran Consulting in York, PA was the successful respondent.

The questions for the Satisfaction Survey were developed by Holleran Consulting based on focus groups held with present and former OVR customers and with non-OVR human service professionals who were knowledgeable about OVR services. The Council then approved the survey tool, which addressed four areas: the Agency, the Counselor, Support Systems and Suitable Employment. The instrument asked customers to rate specific statements from 1-5, with 5 being strongly agree and 1 being strongly disagree. Each question also offered an opportunity for comments. Overall, 53 percent of the respondents made additional comments.

Note: Titles for the groupings of questions were an outgrowth of the focus groups and are not necessarily found in legislation or the OVR State Plan. They are for reporting and discussion convenience.

OVR randomly selected a database of 6,672 open and closed cases. Persons selected were contacted and given the opportunity to participate or to decline to participate or to decline. Mail surveys were sent to persons with hearing disabilities, physical disabilities and substance abuse challenges. Individuals in these groups who did not return surveys received telephone follow-up. Persons with cognitive disabilities and mental illness completed surveys by phone. This process led to a 51 percent response rate (3,395), with an error rate of +/- 2 percent at a 95 percent confidence level. In layman's terms this essentially means that we can expect results would be the same within a range of 93 percent to 97 percent each time the survey was given.

The results of the survey were presented to the Council October 14, 1998 and to the OVR Board on December 2, 1998.

Before considering the survey findings we wish to remind the reader that this is an opinion survey which reflects the customer's perceptions of his/her experience and outcomes. This effort is not an empirical study nor does it cross-reference the customer's opinions with case record information.

Results should not be interpreted as "good" or "bad" but rather as indicators of areas which may merit more intense examination by OVR or the Rehabilitation Council.

Findings:

Holleran Consulting provided the following information to assist in reading and interpreting results:

Conversion of Scores to Percents: A score of 1 = Strongly Disagree and a score of 5=Strongly Agree. Scores were assigned percents. 1=20%, 2=40 percent, 3=60 percent, 4=80 percent, 5=100 percent. Charts reporting Overall Mean Scores are reporting averages of these conversions.

Favorable or Unfavorable: A score of 4 or 5 on the point scale is favorable. A score of 1 or 2 is unfavorable. In this analysis, scores of 3 were not used as 3=neither agree not disagree. Charts reporting Favorable vs. Unfavorable information are using this conversion.

Not all respondents answered every question. Therefore, not all charts add to 100 percent.

I. Overall Satisfaction (3,350 respondents)

Finding:

Satisfaction -All Respondents (in percents)

Satisfaction by Disability Category

Factors which most strongly related to overall satisfaction (strongest first): Support Systems, Skill Enhancement, Opportunities for Advancement, Contracted Services, Job Matching, and Advocacy.

Level of disability, as defined in the Order of Selection, did not impact satisfaction. In this case the strongest indicator does not mean high satisfaction, only that they had the strongest agree/disagree responses.

Average satisfaction scores were sorted by the four categories of questions.

Questions were also sorted to determine those factors that rated most and least positively in the customer's perception of his/her experience with OVR.

Implication(s):

In the first chart, Categories of Questions, the area of Suitable Employment may be impacted by discrepancies between the customer's perceptions of their skills or needs and case history. For example, if a customer wished to be placed in a job at XYZ Corp. but was placed in a similar job at ABC, Inc. instead, he/she may have answered negatively. The same might be true if the entry wage was less than they wished but still the industry standard. However, the disparity between this category and the others merits further review. Further discussion of this category may be found in the Overview of Survey Dimensions section of this report.

Chart number two, Top 10 and Bottom 10 Satisfaction Factors, is a breakout of the previous chart. The factors were specific questions on the survey. The chart clearly shows that the quality of the relationship between the customer and the counselor plays a major role in the customer's satisfaction. While even the ten lowest scores appear somewhat high, it is important to note that nine of the ten lowest factors relate in some way to services which are frequently provided by OVR vendors or other non-OVR personnel. It would appear that satisfaction declines as the counselor's direct role becomes less "hands on".

Commendation:

OVR is to be applauded for the uniformly high satisfaction ratings on all questions related to the Counselor's role in service delivery.

Recommendation:

The 1998 Amendments to the Rehabilitation Act provide options for non-VR counselors to develop Individual Plans of Employment. The charts above lead the Council to recommend that OVR provide training to non-OVR personnel who may be assisting with plan development in order to maintain the current level of excellence.