Measuring family engagement in psychiatric service: An evaluation of the family/visitor survey

Family and friend involvement in the psychiatric treatment of persons with mental illness is vital to consumer recovery and an important quality measure, yet few instruments exist to measure such involvement. This article examines the Family/Visitor Survey (FVS), a brief instrument designed to measure family/friend involvement at Ohio's Behavioral Health Organizations (BHO), the state system of psychiatric hospitals. The researchers assessed the reliability of the FVS and examined the factor structure to test the hypothesis that the FVS measures a unitary construct. Data were from one urban and one rural BHO. Results indicated that the FVS was reliable and that the six items represented one latent construct. Although the findings provide initial support for the reliability and factor structure of the FVS, further research is required to establish the construct validity of the instrument. © Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.