Validation of the Chinese version stage of recovery instrument-30 (STORI-30) for adults with severe mental illness

BACKGROUND: Stage of Recovery Instrument-30 (STORI-30) is grounded in a five-stage model of psychological recovery, and serves as measuring recovery stage of people with mental illness. AIMS: To develop and validate the Chinese version STORI-30 on adults with severe mental illness. METHODS: STORI-30 was translated to traditional Chinese through forward-backward method. An expert panel and potential users evaluated face validity and content validity. The Chinese version STORI-30 plus other convergent and divergent scales were then administered to 113 participants for field test. RESULTS: Face and content validity were confirmed with acceptable Content Validity Index and high inter-rater agreement. Exploratory factor analysis revealed a three-factor structure. An ordinal sequence was presented among the five subscales, similar to the original version. Construct validity was supported by positive correlations with recovery and mental well-being scales, and negative correlation with self-stigma scale. Good internal consistency (Cronbach’s α = 0.78–0.86) and high level of test-retest reliability (Intraclass correlation coefficient = 0.96) were obtained. CONCLUSIONS: Chinese STORI-30 presents satisfactory psychometric properties in internal consistency, construct convergent and divergent validity, and test-retest reliability. The three-factor structure revealed does not echo the original five-stage recovery model. Further studies exploring the underlying structure are warranted.