Personal recovery self-report outcome measures in serious mental illness: A systematic review of measurement properties

Personal recovery represents a paradigm shift in mental healthcare. Validated self-report outcome measures (PROMs) are needed to facilitate the transformation towards recovery-oriented practices and services. Objectives were to identify published measures and analyze their measurement properties using a standardized methodology. Following the COSMIN guidelines, we conducted a systematic review of personal recovery PROMs in serious mental illness. The MEDLINE, PMC, PsycINFO, PsycARTICLES, PBSC and Scopus electronic databases were searched for articles published between May 2012 and February 2024. Full-text articles from a previous systematic review were also examined. 91 studies were included in the review, describing 25 PROMs. Ten of them had not been identified in previous reviews. Quality of evidence was globally poor for most PROM measurement properties. Very little evidence was found for cross-cultural validity, measurement invariance, measurement error and criterion validity. The Recovery Assessment Scale and Questionnaire about the Process of Recovery showed the strongest evidence for sufficient psychometric data on a wide range of measurement properties. Several personal recovery measures are now available. While research is still needed to enhance their validity on some psychometric properties, the current tools appear sufficient to cover most research and clinical needs. •Validated personal recovery measures are needed to transform mental health services.•A systematic review identifies 25 self-report measures assessing personal recovery.•No measure shows sufficient psychometrics on all domains with high level of evidence.•Five outcome measures with the best psychometrics properties are discussed.•We propose an additional content validity analysis with a model of personal recovery.