Development of the Social Relationship Expectations Scale: protocol for a multi-country, multi-method observational study.

Abstract

While loneliness has been recognised as a global public health concern, there are still knowledge gaps about how to prevent or reduce loneliness. The Social Relationship Expectations (SRE) Framework (Akhter-Khan <i>et al, 2023</i>) has been developed to enhance mechanism-based interventions targeting individuals' expectations for social relationships. However, no scale has yet been developed to measure these expectations. We aim to measure SRE across the six interdependent dimensions identified in the theoretical framework, across diverse settings. This protocol outlines the methodology for developing the SRE scale. The scale will be developed using both inductive and deductive techniques in a multicountry observational study. First, items will be extracted from published qualitative studies on loneliness and SRE across 15 lower-middle-income countries and from a qualitative focus group study with older Myanmar and Thai adults. Second, using a Delphi process for item development, experts across five world regions (Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe and Oceania) will be involved in the item selection and scale creation process. A preliminary item pool will be administered in English, German and Chinese. Classical test theory as well as network analysis will be used to assess the dimensionality of the scale, understand item relationships and clusters, and select the final items for the SRE scale. Ethics approval for the scale development has been obtained from King's College London (reference number: MRSP-24/25-46512). Informed consent will be obtained from all participants prior to completing the cognitive interviews and online surveys. Results will be disseminated in peer-reviewed journals in collaboration with coauthors across different countries and disciplines.