Introduction
Resilience enables people to develop and regain mental health in the face of adversity, and is related to recovery. There are no current measures of resilience for Bipolar Disorder (BD).
Aims
To develop and validate a BD specific resilience measure, and examine relationships between resilience and recovery-related variables.
Objectives
(1) Describe the development and psychometric evaluation of the Spanish 23-item Resilience to Bipolar Disorder (RBD) questionnaire. (2) Test relationships between RBD scores and recovery-related variables in BD.
Method
The 41-item RBD questionnaire (developed based on prior qualitative research) was completed by 113 participants with BD, along with measures related to quality of life, functioning and recovery. Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) using Principal Axis Factoring with promax rotation was conducted to identify redundant items and underlying factors. Reliability and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) for the resulting factorial structure were assessed.
Results
EFA identified 23RBD items suitable for retention, structured within five factors. Cronbach αs were all satisfactory (all αs ≥ .76) at both subscale and total score level. Convergent validity was supported through positive correlations between RBDand the Resilience Scale-25. Additionally, the RBD correlated significantlywith quality of life, well-being, personal recovery, functional impairment and symptoms. CFA fit indexes supported the five factor structure of the RBD scale.
Conclusions
TheRBD is a reliable and valid measure of resilience in BD, being associated with measures related to quality of life, functioning and recovery, which is consistent with previous research in resilience and mental health in other psychiatric populations.