The Health Role Expectations Index: A measure of alignment, disparity, and change

Growing controversy over mutual role expectations of physician, nurse, and consumer underlines the need to clarify attitudes toward their responsibilities in health care. This article describes the development and testing of the Health Role Expectations Index, a measure of attitudes regarding the amount of shared responsibility which should exist in the relationships of nurse, physician, and consumer. Testing for validity through differential prediction to known groups and prediction to external measures is detailed. Internal consistency and test-retest reliability findings are also presented. While both the validity and the reliability of the Health Role Expectations Index are supported, the preliminary nature of test results and areas for further testing of the tool are emphasized. Implications for the instrument's use are then discussed.