Measures of Mental Health Recovery

Overview
The Stages of Recovery Instrument (STORI)
Translations of the STORI
Shorter Measures
Self-Identified Stage of Recovery (SISR)
Short Interview to Assess Stages of Recovery (SIST-R)
Links to publications

Overview

A number of measures of psychological recovery have been developed based on the stage model of psychological recovery . These tools are designed to measure constructs that are more meaningful to consumers than conventional outcome measures. They were developed in response to consumer criticisms of traditional clinical measures, which tend to focus on illness and disability. In contrast, our measures have a positive psychology focus and target psychological recovery and personal growth.

The Stages of Recovery Instrument (STORI) and the self-identified stage of recovery (SISR) are self-report measures for assessing stage of recovery from mental illness. The SIST-R is an interview-based assessment developed to overcome the difficulties that some people may have in completing self-report measures.

Below you will find descriptions of the STORI, the SISR and the SIST-R, and links to related journal articles. You can also download the STORI and the SISR for use in research or in the clinic. There is no charge for these measures, but we do request that you make the usual proper acknowledgement.

Please read the section on the stage model of psychological recovery before using the measures.

We recommend that users of any of the measures on these pages refer to our book, which elaborates on the processes of recovery using the words of consumers to bring to life the theory supporting the model.

Andresen, R., Oades, L.G., & Caputi, P. (2011). Psychological Recovery: Beyond Mental Illness. UK:Wiley-Blackwell. 

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The Stages of Recovery Instrument (STORI)

The STORI consists of fifty items, rated on a scale from 0 to 5.  Items are presented in 10 groups of five: the five items within each group represent the five stages of recovery.  Therefore, overall there are 10 items representing each stage, and these are used to create five stage subscale scores. The highest subscale score indicates the stage of recovery that the person is experiencing.

The development of the STORI has been published in the following article:

  • Andresen, R., Caputi, P., & Oades, L. (2006). The Stages of Recovery Instrument: Development of a measure of recovery from serious mental illness. Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 40, 972-980,

Download a PDF of the accepted version of the article. [pdf 111kb]
The definitive published version is available on the publisher's website.

A validation study of the STORI has been conducted in the UK:

  • Weeks G, Slade M, Hayward M. (In press). A UK validation of the Stages of Recovery Instrument, International Journal of Social Psychiatry.

Download a PDF of the accepted version of the article  [pdf 107kb].

Download the STORI.

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Translations of the STORI

The STORI is also available in French and Spanish.

We welcome translations into other languages, with the condition that you contact us first to ensure that the correct protocol for translations is followed. If you would like to translate the STORI into another language, please email Dr Retta Andresen at iiMH@uow.edu.au.

French STORI

For enquiries in French, please contact:

Jérôme Favrod, RN, CNS
Community Psychiatry Service
Department of Psychiatry - Lausanne
Switzerland
Email: j.favrod@ecolelasource.ch

Download the French STORI.

Spanish STORI

The Spanish STORI has recently been revised. The updated version is now available to download with scoring guidelines.

For enquiries in Spanish, please contact:

Oscar Vallina Fernandez PhD
Coordinator of Prevention program for psychosis (P3): www.p3-info.es/
Mental Health Center of Torrelavega. Cantabria Health System
Cantabria.Spain
Email: ovallina@cop.es
or
Professor Serafin Lemos Giraldez
Lecturer of the University of Oviedo, Spain
Email: slemos@uniovi.es

Download the Spanish STORI.

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Shorter Measures
 

STORI-30

A shorter, 30-item version of STORI is under development. Testing of this measure is currently underway.

Self-identified stage of recovery (SISR)

The SISR is a brief self-rated assessment of stage of recovery, consisting of two parts. Part A is a forced-choice item consisting of five statements reflecting the five stages of the model. Respondents select the statement that best reflects their current experience. Part B consists of four statements reflecting the four processes of recovery, rated on a six-point scale. 

The following article describes research using the SISR:

  • Andresen, R., Caputi, P. and Oades, L. (2010). Do clinical outcome measures assess consumer-defined recovery? Psychiatry Research, 177(3), 309-317.

Download a PDF of the accepted version of this article [pdf 545kb]. 
The definitive published version is available on the publishers website.
 

Download the SISR.

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Translations of the SISR

We welcome translations into other languages, with the condition that you contact us first to ensure that you follow the correct protocol for translations. If you would like to translate the SISR into another language, please email Dr Retta Andresen at iiMH@uow.edu.au.

Japanese version of the SISR

A Japanese version of the SISR is available. The following article describes the development and testing of this instrument in Japan:

Chiba R, Kawakami N, Miyamoto Y, Andresen R. Reliability and validity of the Japanese version of the Self-Identified Stage of Recovery (SISR) for people with long term mental illness. International Journal of Mental Health Nursing, 2010; 19(3):195-202.

Download a PDF the abstract of this article [pdf 16kb]
The definitive published version is available on the publisher’s website.


Download the Japanese SISR.

For enquires in Japanese regarding the SISR, please contact:

Rie Chiba, MS, RN, PHN
Department of Psychiatric Nursing
Graduate School of Medicine
The University of Tokyo
Email: crie-tky@umin.ac.jp

Short Interview to Assess Stages of Recovery (SIST-R)

This is a structured interview to assess stage of psychological recovery from mental illness. This measure has undergone preliminary testing. The following article describes the development and testing  of the SIST-R:

  • Wolstencroft, K., Oades, L., Caputi, P. and Andresen, R. (2010). Development of a Structured Interview Schedule to assess Stage of Psychological Recovery from Enduring Mental Illness. International Journal of Psychiatry in Clinical Practice, 14, 182-189.

Download a PDF version of the accepted article [pdf 243kb]
The definitive published version is available on the publishers website.

Links 

Questions or feedback?

If you would like any more information about the stage model of recovery, or recovery measurement or if have any feedback on this website, you are welcome to contact us at: iiMH@uow.edu.au

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Last reviewed: 10 February, 2012