Evidence-Based Practices: Shaping Mental Health Services Toward Recovery

Illness Management and Recovery

Illness Management and Recovery Fidelity Scale

This document is intended to help guide you in administering the Illness Management and Recovery (IMR) Fidelity Scale. In this document you will find the following:

Introduction: This gives an overview of IMR and a who/what/how of the scale, plus a checklist of suggestions for before, during, and after the fidelity assessment that should lead to the collection of high quality data, positive interactions with respondents, and an efficient data collection process.

Protocol: The protocol explains how to rate each item. In particular, it provides:

A definition and rationale for each fidelity item. These items have been derived from controlled research on illness management.
A list of data sources most appropriate for each fidelity item (e.g., chart review, program leader, clinician/practitioner and consumer interviews). When it is appropriate, a set of probe questions is provided to help you elicit the critical information needed to score the fidelity item. These probe questions were specifically generated to help you collect information from respondents that is relatively free from bias such as social desirability.
Decision rules will facilitate the correct scoring of each item. As you collect information from various sources, these rules will help you determine the specific rating to give for each item.

Cover sheet: This form obtains background information on the study site. The data are not used in determining fidelity, but to provide important information for classifying programs, such as size and duration of program, type of parent organization, and community characteristics.

Score sheet: The score sheet provides instructions for scoring, including how to handle missing data and which cut-off scores to use for full, moderate, and inadequate implementation.

Progress note: This is a sample of a progress note form recommended by the IMR Implementation Resource Kit developers (Susan Gingerich and Kim Mueser) for use or adaptation in the implementation of IMR. The progress note is an important data source in IMR fidelity assessment. Each site implementing the IMR practices should be encouraged to adopt a similar style of progress note as a part of its daily practice in order to facilitate fidelity assessments.

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