Further Validation of the Addiction Recovery Questionnaire (ARQ)
Research type
Research Study
Full title
An Investigation of the scale structure and psychometric properties of the Addiction Recovery Questionnaire (ARQ)
IRAS ID
228102
Contact name
Duncan Raistrick
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Leeds and York Partnership NHS Foundation Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 6 months, 31 days
Research summary
Recovery from an addiction problem may occur in different ways including with help from a treatment agency, from mutual aid groups, or through natural processes. Whatever the road to recovery, people want to know how well things are progressing. Interested parties may be the person with the problem, their friends and family, helping professional practitioners, commissioners of services, and managers. ARQ questionnaire responses are also an important guide to planning the next steps in recovery.
The views of treatment service users and their families on the nature of recovery were used to develop a tool to measure recovery: the Addiction Recovery Questionnaire (ARQ). We have published two journal articles describing the development process and initial validation of the ARQ (Thurgood et al 2014; Iveson-Brown et al 2015). The current proposed study is for further validation of this instrument. The gold standard of psychological treatment outcomes is the achievement of clinically significant change - this approach goes beyond seeing good outcomes simply in terms of measuring the differences between before and after scores, or even statistical significance of these differences; rather it determines whether improvement is meaningful in the real world. In order to make this calculation it is necessary to have scores on the ARQ from a well functioning population.
This phase of development is necessary in order to i) confirm the scale structure ii) describe the psychometric properties of the scale and iii) estimate the values required to calculate clinically significant change.
Thurgood S, Crosby HF, Raistrick D, & Tober G. (2014) Service user, family and friends’ views on the meaning of a ‘good outcome’ of treatment for an addiction problem. Drugs: Education, Prevention and Policy. 21(4) 324-332.
Iveson-Brown K and Raistrick D. (2015) A Brief Addiction Recovery Questionnaire derived from the views of service users and concerned others. Drugs: Education, Prevention, and Policy doi: 10.3109/09687637.2015.1087968
REC name
Yorkshire & The Humber - Bradford Leeds Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
17/YH/0198
Date of REC Opinion
27 Jul 2017
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion