Evaluating the INSPIRE measure of staff support for personal recovery in a Swedish psychiatric context

Background: Recovery is understood to be an individual process that cannot be controlled, but can be supported and facilitated at the individual, organizational and system levels. Standardized measures of recovery may play a critical role in contributing to the development of a recovery-oriented system. The INSPIRE measure is a 28-item service user-rated measure of recovery support. INSPIRE assesses both the individual preferences of the user in the recovery process and their experience of support from staff. Aim: The aim of this study was to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Swedish version of the INSPIRE measure, for potential use in Swedish mental health services and in order to promote recovery in mental illness. Method: The sample consisted of 85 participants from six community mental health services targeting people with a diagnosis of psychosis in a municipality in Sweden. For the test-retest evaluation, 78 participants completed the questionnaire 2 weeks later. Results: The results in the present study indicate that the Swedish version of the INSPIRE measure had good face and content validity, satisfactory internal consistency and some level of instability in test-retest reliability. Conclusions: While further studies that test the instrument in a larger and more diverse clinical context are needed, INSPIRE can be considered a relevant and feasible instrument to utilize in supporting the development of a recovery-oriented system in Sweden.