The 36-item Recovery Self-Assessment (RSA) is a valid and reliable survey tool used to measure the extent to which mental health services at an organization are recovery-oriented (O’Connell, Tondora, Croog, Evans, & Davidson, 2005, Kidd, et al, 2011). Four versions of the survey were developed for targeted audiences, including person in recovery, family member/advocate, provider, and CEO/Director. Texas Institute for Excellence in Mental Health (TIEMH) researchers have used the person in recovery and provider RSA surveys for over five years. According to survey respondents, however, the RSA is too lengthy and some of the item wording was too complex which may decrease the likelihood that respondents provide valid responses for all items. TIEMH researchers previously reduced the RSA from 36 to 31 items and revised the language to be more accessible. To further reduce the number of items on the RSA, TIEMH researchers utilized factor analysis to determine which items related most closely to the concept “recovery-oriented services.” This resulted in a 13-item abbreviated version of the RSA (which is referred to throughout this report as the “abbreviated RSA”).
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