Recovery after a suicidal episode: Developing and validating the Recovery Evaluation and Suicide Support Tool (RESST)

Area of Science:

• Psychiatry and Mental Health
• Psychometrics
• Suicidology

Background:

• The personal recovery movement prioritizes agency and meaning over symptom reduction.
• Existing measures do not adequately assess personal recovery post-suicidal episode.
• A validated psychometric tool is needed to evaluate recovery in this population.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate the Recovery Evaluation and Suicide Support Tool (RESST) for assessing personal recovery after a suicidal episode.
• To ensure the tool's psychometric properties, including reliability and validity.
• To gather stakeholder input for a meaningful and clinically relevant scale.

Main Methods:

• Development of the RESST scale through stakeholder input and exploratory factor analysis (N=502).
• Validation using confirmatory factor analysis across three samples (N=1,523) and test-retest reliability assessment (N=204).
• Examination of convergent and discriminant validity through correlations with mental health indices.

Main Results:

• The RESST is a 21-item scale with four subscales: Self-Worth, Life Worth, Social Worth, and Self-Understanding.
• Confirmatory factor analysis confirmed a robust and replicable factor structure across samples.
• RESST scores demonstrated convergent and discriminant validity, correlating significantly with recovery, mood, suicidality, and meaning in life.

Conclusions:

• The RESST is a psychometrically sound measure for assessing personal recovery following suicidal episodes.
• The tool's findings support its clinical relevance and utility in research.
• RESST can enhance understanding and support for personal recovery processes after suicidality.