Psychometric properties of three instruments to measure recovery

Scand J Caring Sci; 2011Psychometric properties of three instruments to mea-sure recoveryBackground: The process of recovery is gaining more andmore attention within health care for patients with severemental illness. Therefore, instruments to measure recoverycan be useful for clinical and research purposes.Aims: This study evaluates the psychometric properties ofthree instruments pertaining to recovery for possibleapplication in the Netherlands. The Recovery AttitudeQuestionnaire and the Recovery Knowledge Inventorywere investigated among 210 mental health professionals,and the Recovery Promoting Relationship Scale wasadministered to 142 mental health consumers.Methods: The factor structure, reliability and internal con-sistency were examined using the same analysis strategy.First, each questionnaire was submitted to a confirmatoryfactor analysis based on the factorial structure proposed bythe original developers of the questionnaire. In case of abad fit, an exploratory factor analysis was conducted.Based on factor analyses, subscales were formed for eachquestionnaire and the internal consistency (Cronbach’salpha) was assessed. In all three cases the final principalaxes solution was obliquely rotated by means of theOBLIMIN rotation procedure.Results: The originally proposed factor structure did notyield an acceptable fit in any of the Dutch samples. Afteranalyses, three instruments are proposed that are suitablefor research on recovery-oriented competencies and therecovery-promoting relationship for professionals workingwith people with serious mental illness in the Netherlands.Conclusions: The results in this study may be a step forwardand give a new impulse to stimulate research in mentalhealth recovery.Keywords: recovery scales, factor structure, internalconsistency, validity.Submitted 15 February 2011, Accepted 5 November 2011