Introduction:
Healthcare systems are subject to evaluation by all its participants and the general public. National studies on this subject suggest a clearly negative perception of the Polish healthcare system. This attitude can be interpreted as a consequence of unfulfilled expectations of public opinion, which makes expectations an important field of study. The general aim of this review is to verify the current state of research on the relationship between knowledge, expectations, and evaluation in order to identify the dominant strands of research as well as any gaps in the existing knowledge.

Material and methods:
The study used the method of narrative review and the PubMed and Embase databases. Only English-language publications were included in the review.

Results:
In total, 2,239 source articles were identified; 36 publications were included in the final analysis. Based on Laferton’s model, the articles were categorized according to the reference to expectations related to behavior or therapy. Out of the 36 selected publications, 28 (77.78%) were assigned to at least two categories. Likewise, 24 articles (66.67%) referred to expectations related to treatment results. Most of the publications (23; 63.9%) described the relationship between knowledge and expectations. The connection between expectations and evaluation was investigated by 8 publications and 5 combined all three elements (knowledge, expectations, and evaluation).

Conclusions:
The review of the literature indicates that the knowledge of recipients of health services may be an important determinant of their expectations toward service providers and the forms of treatment they receive. The collected evidence does not provide a clear answer as to the impact that making expectations more realistic would have on assessments of the healthcare system.