Qualitative insights in item development for a comprehensive and inclusive measure of recovery capital

Abstract

Background

Item specification is foundational to measurement development but rarely reported in depth. We address this gap by explicating our use of qualitative methods to ground and develop items for a new recovery capital measure, the Multidimensional Inventory of Recovery Capital.

Method

We recruited a diverse sample of service providers (n = 9) and people in recovery from alcohol problems (n = 23) to provide feedback on an item pool assessing social, human, physical, community, and cultural capital. Using applied qualitative analysis, we coded findings from interviews and focus groups and made final decisions by consensus regarding item elimination, retention, or revision. This process yielded a 49-item draft measure.

Results

Only nine items from an initial 90-item list were retained in their original form. Participant feedback guided item elimination, addition, and revision for linguistic or conceptual clarity. We detected little systematic variation in feedback based on income or race; however, there were stark divergences on particular items based on recovery pathway (i.e. 12-step versus other approaches).

Conclusions

The high degree of alteration to the item pool highlights the importance of establishing validity with respondents. Response variation based on recovery pathway suggests the need for broad heterogeneity in respondents. Measures that are sensitive, psychometrically sound, and aligned with theory are critical for advancing research on recovery capital and related disparities for diverse populations.

Keywords:

• Item generation
• measurement
• qualitative
• recovery capital

Acknowledgments

Data and/or research tools used in the preparation of this manuscript are available from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism Data Archive (NIAAADA). NIAAADA is a collaborative informatics system created by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to provide a national resource to support the sharing of federally funded data for accelerating research. Data can be accessed via http://nda.nih.gov/niaaa. Dataset identifier: NDA Collection ID C3554.

The authors thank project consultant Lee Ann Kaskutas for her expertise and contributions to the project. We thank the University at Buffalo Clinical and Translational Science Institute’s Buffalo Research Registry for assistance with recruitment. We acknowledge the following individuals for reviewing proposed items for the measure: Dr. Audrey Begun, Dr. Clara Bradizza, Dr. Susan Collins, Dr. Gerard Connors, Dr. Paul Gilbert, Dr. Emily Hennessy, Dr. Amy Krentzman, Dr. Paul Stasiewicz, and Dr. Katie Witkiewitz. Lastly, we thank the participants for sharing their time and perspectives.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

Research reported in this publication was supported by the U.S. National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number R21AA028099 and T32AA007583 to the University at Buffalo. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.