How expectations shape health care experiences

In this invited commentary in the Lancet Primary Care, Senior Research Fellow Dr Shona Bates at the International Centre for Future Health System responds to a recent international study by Todd Lewis and colleagues examining patients expectations of care which found expectations vary according to age, gender, income, education and cultural background.

Dr Bates argues that understanding patient social identities and expectations could strengthen the value of patient-reported experience and outcomes measures which are widely used to assess the quality and effectiveness of health care. She argues for further research into how social identities and expectations shape health care experiences, use of services and management of their health (patient activation), and perceptions of quality of care, and what drives expectations to change over time.