The psychometric properties of the illness management and recovery scale: Client and clinician versions

Abstract

The present study examined the psychometric properties of the clinician and client versions of the Illness Management and Recovery (IMR) scale. Using a 5-point behaviorally anchored response format, these scales were designed to tap the critical illness management and recovery domains targeted by the IMR program. This program is a curriculum-based approach to helping persons with a serious mental illness (SMI) acquire the knowledge and skills they need to manage their illness effectively and to achieve personal recovery goals. Two hundred and ten persons with a diagnosis of a SMI and their 13 clinicians filled-out the client and clinician versions of the IMR questionnaire. The clients also responded to measures of coping efficacy and social support. While indicating limitations of the IMR scales and pointing to how they could be improved, this study provided some support for the construct and concurrent validity of the client and clinician versions of the IMR questionnaire. Moderate reliabilities were uncovered for these parallel versions of the questionnaire. Client responses to the client IMR scale and clinician responses to the clinician IMR scale were shown to be characterized by similar major components of the IMR intervention.