An approach for finding a selected option in Protractor that works with PhantomJS and gives useful output

index.page.js

'use strict';

var IndexPage = function() {
};

IndexPage.prototype = Object.create({}, {
    load: {
        value: function(){
            browser.get('app/index.html');
        }
    },
    optionWithText: {
        value: function(inputText){

            browser.wait(function() {
                return element(by.cssContainingText('option',inputText)).isPresent();
            }, 1500, 'No option containing text "' + inputText  + '" was found...sorry');

            return element(by.cssContainingText('option',inputText)).isSelected().then(function(isSelected){
                if(isSelected) {return 'selected';}
                else {return 'Element found but not selected';}
            });
        }
    }
});

module.exports = IndexPage;

scenario.js

'use strict';

var IndexPage = require('./index.page.js');
var indexPage;

describe('My App', function() {

    describe('My view', function() {

        beforeEach(function() {
            indexPage = new IndexPage();
            indexPage.load();
        });

        it('should check to see if the My Option is selected', function() {
            expect(indexPage.optionWithText('My Option')).toBe('selected');
        });
    });
});