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. 2025 Jul 23:13:1532812.
doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1532812. eCollection 2025.

How to measure the effectiveness of recovery community centers: insights gained from a nationwide survey of directors of RCCs

Bettina B Hoeppner  1   2 , Alivia C Williamson  1 , Hazel Simpson  1 , Diadora DeCristofaro  1 , Catherine Weerts  1 , Marion J Riggs  3 , Allison Futter  1 , Amy A Mericle  4 , Philip X Rutherford  5 , Lauren A Hoffman  1 , Vinod Rao  1 , Patty McCarthy  6 , Julia Ojeda  7 , Susanne S Hoeppner  1   2
Affiliations

How to measure the effectiveness of recovery community centers: insights gained from a nationwide survey of directors of RCCs

Bettina B Hoeppner et al. Front Public Health. .

Abstract

Objective: Recovery community centers (RCCs) are a rapidly growing source of support for many Americans seeking or in recovery from substance use disorder. Research that examines the effectiveness of RCCs is critically needed. Determining how the "effectiveness" of RCCs ought to be measured, however, is challenging, because RCCs seek to confer benefits on multiple levels and because recovery is a multi-faceted construct. RCC directors are uniquely suited to provide insight into what outcome measures may be viable to use to capture the impact of RCCs on their participants.

Methods: As part of a nationwide survey of RCCs directors (n = 122/198, 62% response rate), we presented seven measures to RCC directors: process measures (Client Satisfaction Questionnaire (CSQ-8); a list of ways in which RCCs confer benefit) and longer term outcome measures (Brief Assessment of Recovery Capital (BARC-10); EUROHIS-QOL; Substance Use Recovery Evaluator (SURE); PERMA Profiler; a list of life goals). We then asked RCC directors if they expected that RCC participants would show progress over time on these measures (yes/no), if the measure would be useful to demonstrate the impact of their RCC (yes/no), and which measure they felt was the best measure of the positive impact RCCs can make on RCC participants.

Results: All measures had considerable buy-in from RCC directors: 87% or more of RCC directors said RCC participants would show progress on each measure, and 72% or more said that each measure would be useful to demonstrate the impact of their RCC. Most frequently, RCC directors endorsed as useful the list of ways in which RCCs confer benefit, the list of life goals, and the BARC-10 (≥95% of RCC directors each). RCC directors were split on which measure would be the best measure, with no single measure exceeding 26% of RCC directors rating it as the best of the seven presented scales.

Conclusion: Several existing scales resonate with RCC directors, yet little consensus regarding a single primary outcome variable exists. Close collaboration with RCCs is needed to ensure that research on the effectiveness of RCCs is congruent with how RCCs function and seek to confer benefit.

Keywords: addiction; definition of recovery; measurement of outcomes; measuring peer impact; peer recovery support services; recovery; recovery community centers; substance use disorder.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Survey form titled ”BARC-10,“ a measure of recovery capital, assessing personal and social resources for substance use disorder recovery. Contains ten statements to rate agreement from ”1 - Strongly Disagree“ to ”6 - Strongly Agree.” Includes scoring instructions, with scores ranging from 10 to 60. Evaluation questions ask if participants would show progress and if the measure would capture the RCC's impact.
Figure 1
Screenshot of REDCap survey asking directors to provide feedback on selected measures.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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