Developing a measure of adolescent recovery capital: a Delphi study to capture clinician and researcher expertise

Background The Recovery Capital (RC) model encompasses the key factors supporting recovery. Understanding RC, and how it changes over time, is important for supporting recovery processes and evaluating treatment effectiveness. There are 11 validated measures of adults’ RC, but none are validated for adolescents, who have distinct recovery experiences/needs. We conducted a Delphi study with professionals working with adolescents to develop an initial measure of adolescent RC (MARC).Methods We recruited addiction professionals (i.e. clinicians or researchers) to complete a two-round Delphi examining consensus on 78 draft RC items from the Assessment of Recovery Capital (ARC) and Multidimensional Inventory of Recovery Capital (MIRC) measures. In each round, participants rated item importance (5-point scale) and provided comments. In the first round, 11 participants completed the Delphi (73% male; Mean experience years = 16.45, SD = 11.66) and 7 (64%) returned to Round 2.Results Overall, there was strong agreement that many of the presented items were important for capturing adolescent RC. The MIRC items were generally considered more acceptable compared to the ARC items. Professionals recommended revisions to better capture wellbeing beyond substance use and to reflect broader environmental influences.Conclusions Based on expert feedback, we propose an initial measure of 61 items to capture adolescent RC. Findings highlight the importance of a youth-specific RC measure that reflects adolescents’ developmental context, wellbeing needs, and environments. This measure can strengthen treatment by identifying individualized barriers/supports, guide progress monitoring beyond substance use outcomes, and inform interventions. Future work should incorporate adolescent feedback to the MARC.