{
  "abstract": "Introduction 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 et al, 2023) 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.Methods and analysis 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 and dissemination 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.",
  "authors": [
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Department of Global Health & Social Medicine, King’s College London, London, UK",
        "Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Charite - Universitatsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany",
        "Research Group \"Climate, Aging, and Relationships\" (CARE), Center for Health Services Research, Brandenburg Medical School, Rüdersdorf, Germany",
        "Deutsches Zentrum für Psychische Gesundheit, Mannheim, Germany"
      ],
      "name": "Samia C Akhter-Khan"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Department of Survey Design & Methodology, GESIS - Leibniz-Institut für Sozialwissenschaften, Mannheim, Germany"
      ],
      "name": "Theresia Ell"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Department of Psychology, University of Siegen, Siegen, Germany"
      ],
      "name": "Lilly Buck"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Charite - Universitatsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany"
      ],
      "name": "Matthias Haucke"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Florida State University College of Medicine, Tallahassee, Florida, USA"
      ],
      "name": "Martina Luchetti"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Faculty of Education, Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany"
      ],
      "name": "Leon Li"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Department of Psychology, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA"
      ],
      "name": "Anthony Ong"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Biostatistics & Health Informatics, King’s College London, London, UK"
      ],
      "name": "Kia-Chong Chua"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Department of Global Health & Social Medicine, King’s College London, London, UK"
      ],
      "name": "Rosie Mayston"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Population Health Sciences Institute, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK"
      ],
      "name": "Matthew Prina"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Charite - Universitatsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany",
        "Deutsches Zentrum für Psychische Gesundheit, Mannheim, Germany"
      ],
      "name": "Shuyan Liu"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences, University of Reading, Reading, UK"
      ],
      "name": "Gloria Wong"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Development of the Social Relationship Expectations Scale: protocol for a multi-country, multi-method observational study",
  "uid": "6d93ca0c-6346-5bce-8b76-fb01b14051d0"
}