Recovery as a psychological construct

Mental health advocates have proposed recovery as a vision for severe menta l illness. The purpose of this study is to examine psychometric characteris tics of a measure of the psychological construct. Thirty-five participants in a partial hospitalization program were administered the Recovery Scale a nd measures of quality of life, social support, self-esteem, consumer empow erment, psychiatric symptoms, needs and resources, global functioning, and verbal intelligence. Results showed the scale to have satisfactory test-ret est reliability and internal consistency. Analysis of the concurrent validi ty of the Recovery Scale showed recovery to be positively associated with s elf-esteem, empowerment, social support, and quality of life. It was invers ely associated with psychiatric symptoms and age. Implications of these fin dings for a psychological model of recovery are discussed.