title: The Personal Norm of Reciprocity among mental health service users: conceptual development and measurement.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  A measure of an individual's level of internalization of the norm of reciprocity may signal exchange preferences and indicate whether "active" or "passive" mental health services are preferable to consumers. We evaluated the psychometric properties of one such measure, the Personal Norm of Reciprocity (PNR) scale.
  
  
  METHODS
  We recruited 70 persons receiving mental health services and 65 comparison participants to complete questionnaires assessing reciprocity tendencies and correlates of mental illness.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Two of three subscales of a shortened PNR showed evidence of reliability and validity. Consumers endorsed higher levels of the reciprocity norm than persons not seeking services. Persons in "active" service settings displayed greater rigidity in application of the reciprocity norm than individuals in "passive" service settings or comparison participants.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The shortened PNR can be a useful measure of individual reciprocity preferences. Measurement of the internalization of the norm of reciprocity may assist practitioners in identifying what types of services are more likely to retain and benefit mental health service consumers.
authors.affiliation: University of Pennsylvania, PA, USA. jmatejkowski@tresearch.org
authors.forename: Jason
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Matejkowski
authors.forename: Kevin S
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: McCarthy
authors.forename: Jeffrey
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Draine
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003156:Community Mental Health Services / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007391:International Cooperation; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D025341:Principal Component Analysis; D011594:Psychometrics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012919:Social Behavior; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires