Design and Development of a Recovery Instrument

Design and Development of a Recovery Instrument to Tap Dimensions of Living with Severe Mental Illness

Investigators: Kim Hopper, Ph.D., Sharon Carpinello, Ph.D., Mary Jane Alexander, Ph.D., Andrea Blanch, Ph.D., Edward Knight, Ph.D., Beatrice Kovazsnay, MD, Ph.D., Sabrina Johnson, Office of Mental Health's New York City Field Office, and Anne Krauss, Mental Health Consultant, Syracuse.

PROJECT GOALS
The main goals of this project are to:

develop a "recovery instrument" designed to tap multiple dimensions of living with severe mental illness not adequately addressed in existing questionnaires, and
field test the application and yield of this instrument in a follow-up study of first contacts with recipients of mental health services diagnosed with schizophrenia.

RESEARCH ACTIVITIES AND RESULTS
The October 1994 Center sponsored conference on Work of Recovery identified collaborative work between recipients and researchers as a potentially fruitful means of extending the dialogue begun at that conference. At two debriefing meetings held afterwards, a small group of conference participants decided to develop a recovery instrument. This working group designed, pilot tested, and revised a prototype instrument addressing such areas as: the subject's own understanding of what her/ his problem has been; social relations and reciprocity; modes of coping with recurring symptoms; the impact of illness/stigma on various domains of everyday life and relationships; and experience with psychiatric coercion.

The instrument, known as the Rochester Recovery Inquiry, has been used in a study conducted in Rochester, New York as part of a multi-center follow-up study of schizophrenia coordinated by the World Health Organization, the WHO Rochester Site Cohort Follow-Up Study. The instrument was also added to the follow-up interview for a portion of the Honolulu cohort, as part of the WHO-Coordinated International Study of Schizophrenia (ISoS), a long-term follow-up study.

SIGNIFICANCE OF FINDINGS/POLICY IMPLICATIONS
This study is assisted recipients in finding and articulating an alternative voice in describing their own experiences (and unacknowledged "work") in living/coping with severe mental illness. Additionally, findings should alert professionals to commonly scanted or misconstrued aspects of recovery (e.g., symptom management), as seen by consumers in recovery.

Presentations and Resources:

Hopper, K., et al. Consumer-oriented outcome measures: The Rochester recovery inquiry presented at OMH Research Conference, December 1996

CSIPMH Video: The Work of Recovery, 1997.

Project completed.

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