Correlation between parental willingness to pay, health-related quality of life, and satisfaction with physiotherapy services in Nigeria: a cross-sectional study

Being a parent of a child with a disability requiring many clinic visits is burdensome. Therefore, understanding the willingness-to-pay (WTP) for physiotherapy for children with disability is important to facilitating access to care and for policy-making. This study aimed to investigate patterns and correlates of parental WTP for physiotherapy.

A total of 65 parents of children with disability receiving physiotherapy as outpatients were recruited from selected tertiary hospitals in Nigeria. A WTP questionnaire, SF-12 health survey, and Physiotherapy Satisfaction Questionnaire were used to assess the WTP, health-related quality of life (HRQoL), and satisfaction with physiotherapy respectively. Descriptive statistics of mean, standard deviation, frequency, and percentages were used to summarize the data. Chi-square and regression analysis were also used to test the association and determinants of WTP from each of the socio-demographic factors, satisfaction with physiotherapy, and health-related quality of life, respectively.

A majority (49.2%) of the respondents were in the 21–35 years age category. There was 30.8% “no WTP” for physiotherapy among parents of children with disability. A significant association was observed between socio-economic status and WTP for all treatment modalities (p < 0.05). The majority of the respondents had above-average levels of physical and mental health domain of SF-12. No significant association was observed between WTP and each satisfaction with physiotherapy and HRQoL (p > 0.05).

There was a high rate of ‘no WTP’ for physiotherapy among parents of children with disability. Level of satisfaction with physiotherapy and health-related quality of life was not significantly associated with parental WTP for physiotherapy.