Changes in Recovery Assessment Scale Scores During a Treatment Episode Among Patients in a Large Behavioral Health Care System.

Objective: The authors utilized patient-reported outcomes from a large U.S. behavioral health care system to evaluate the strength of improvements in patients' self-perceived recovery during mental health treatment.

Methods: This was a cohort study conducted with electronic health records from 2021-2022 Discovery Behavioral Health patients. Patients were grouped according to their 41-item Recovery Assessment Scale (RAS) scores at admission. Linear regression models accounting for patient characteristics were used to estimate RAS score changes from admission to discharge and RAS score at discharge.

Results: Of 9,441 patients, those belonging to groups with lower RAS scores at admission showed substantial score improvements, although their scores at discharge were still much lower compared with those of patients with higher admission scores. Results were consistent across secondary analyses.

Conclusions: Substantial improvements in recovery were evident during treatment, especially for patients with lower RAS scores at admission. The findings underline the importance of research into enhanced personalized treatment approaches to optimize recovery.