title: The reliability and validity of the Maryland Assessment of Recovery in Serious Mental Illness Scale.
abstract: The current study aims to further evaluate the psychometric properties of the Maryland Assessment of Recovery in Serious Mental Illness (MARS), a relatively new instrument designed to assess personal recovery status in individuals with serious mental illness. Two hundred and fifty individuals with serious mental illness receiving outpatient mental health treatment completed a baseline assessment which included the MARS and measures to assess recovery-related constructs, clinical outcomes, and social and community functioning. The MARS demonstrated excellent internal consistency and test-retest reliability. Good construct validity was evidenced by strong positive relationships between the MARS and recovery-related constructs (e.g. hope, empowerment, self-efficacy, and personal agency) and a strong negative relationship with self-stigma. Divergent validity was demonstrated by weaker relationships with cognitive and social functioning. The confirmatory factor analysis did not confirm the unitary factor structure found in previous research. Given the equivocal result of the CFA, additional exploratory work is needed to determine if a more complex factor structure is present. This study provides addition support for the psychometric soundness of the MARS and subsequently, its potential use as a measure of personal recovery status in people with serious mental illness.
authors.affiliation: VA Capitol Health Care Network VISN 5 Research Education and Clinical Center, Baltimore, MD, United States. Electronic address: Amy.Drapalski@va.gov.
authors.forename: Amy L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Drapalski
authors.affiliation: VA Capitol Health Care Network VISN 5 Research Education and Clinical Center, Baltimore, MD, United States; Department of Psychiatry, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, United States.
authors.forename: Deborah
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Medoff
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University/New York State Psychiatric Institute, United States.
authors.forename: Lisa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Dixon
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, United States.
authors.forename: Alan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bellack
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation; D008875:Middle Aged; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales / Q000592:standards*; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000295:instrumentation*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results
keywords: Mental illness recovery; Personal recovery; Psychometrics