The Japanese version of the questionnaire about the process of recovery: development and validity and reliability testing

BACKGROUND: Personal recovery is increasingly recognised as an important outcome measure in mental health services. This study aimed to develop a Japanese version of the Questionnaire about the Process of Recovery (QPR-J) and test its validity and reliability. METHODS: The study comprised two stages that employed the cross-sectional and prospective cohort designs, respectively. We translated the questionnaire using a standard translation/back-translation method. Convergent validity was examined by calculating Pearson’s correlation coefficients with scores on the Recovery Assessment Scale (RAS) and the Short-Form-8 Health Survey (SF-8). An exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was conducted to examine factorial validity. We used intraclass correlation and Cronbach’s alpha to examine the test-retest and internal consistency reliability of the QPR-J’s 22-item full scale, 17-item intrapersonal and 5-item interpersonal subscales. We conducted an EFA along with a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). RESULTS: Data were obtained from 197 users of mental health services (mean age: 42.0 years; 61.9% female; 49.2% diagnosed with schizophrenia). The QPR-J showed adequate convergent validity, exhibiting significant, positive correlations with the RAS and SF-8 scores. The QPR-J’s full version, subscales, showed excellent test-retest and internal consistency reliability, with the exception of acceptable but relatively low internal consistency reliability for the interpersonal subscale. Based on the results of the CFA and EFA, we adopted the factor structure extracted from the original 2-factor model based on the present CFA. CONCLUSION: The QPR-J is an adequately valid and reliable measure of the process of recovery among Japanese users with mental health services. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1186/s12888-017-1520-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.