Received Social Support Scale for Persons with Serious Mental Illness: Preliminary scale development and validation study.

Participants were recruited from northern California county behavioral health programs, so the results may not apply to other areas. Only adults who were considered stable, not actively symptomatic, and well enough to attend and complete the survey were included, so the scale may not capture the most functionally disabled people or those not accessing services. Responses were self-reported and could have been affected by social desirability, mood, insight, or recent events. Test-retest reliability over three weeks was .59, and the paper described it as less strong. Correlations with other measures were small, and correlations with life satisfaction were not significant. The Adherence Support subdomain kept only three items, and the scale does not assess satisfaction with support or who provides it.

Do not use the rSSS-SMI to conclude that a patient's support network is adequate or that an intervention works. The paper reports preliminary scale development, not treatment testing, and the scale does not assess satisfaction with support or who provides it.