Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40088004›Full record

ReviewHealth expectations : an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy2025

One or Many Recoveries? Recoveries in the Plural for a Better Understanding of One's Healing Journey.

Elena Faccio, Michele Rocelli, Lia Bitetti, Giuseppe Salamina, Susanna Brunelli, Federica Mangione, Ludovica Aquili

Abstract readReview
In one paragraph

Review in Health expectations : an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
3citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

3 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Peer Support Workers in Mental Health Care: Plural Positionings Beyond Transformation and Assimilation Dichotomy.Health expectations : an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy · 2026
    Article
  3. How to Tell a Recovery Story 'Professionally'? Issues Related to the Transformation of Personal Stories During a Training for Becoming a Peer Support Worker.Health expectations : an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy · 2026
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors.

Elena FaccioDepartment of Philosophy, Sociology, Education and Applied Psychology (FISPPA), University of Padua, Padua, Italy.ORCID 0000-0002-1204-4866
Michele RocelliDepartment of Philosophy, Sociology, Education and Applied Psychology (FISPPA), University of Padua, Padua, Italy.
Lia BitettiPsychologist at the community for substance abusers called Ca' delle Ore, Breganze, Italy.
Giuseppe SalaminaMinistry Delegate for Health, Department of Mental Health, Local Health Unit of Turin, Turin, Italy.
Susanna BrunelliPeer Support Worker, or Expert by Experience, independent activist in Peer Support, Verona, Italy.
Federica MangionePeer Support Worker, or Expert by Experience, Diapsi Vercelli, Volunteer Association, Vercelli, Italy.
Ludovica AquiliDepartment of Philosophy, Sociology, Education and Applied Psychology (FISPPA), University of Padua, Padua, Italy.

Funding

This study was supported by two projects: EXIT MADNESS? Examination of interpersonal evidence of recovery from severe mental illness (FACC_BIRD2121_01) and MENTOR (2024).
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundSince the 60s, the recovery-oriented approach has greatly influenced mental health policy and practice, and much research has been devoted to exploring it. In the face of a generic definition of the 'recovery' construct, to which many articles refer, a closer examination of the literature reveals a plurality of theories and ways about how changes related to the recovery occur and how to evaluate them.

aimsThis narrative review explores the different definitions of recovery available in the literature, by investigating the adjectives that qualify it and the theoretical construct the adjective refers to.

methodFrom the online databases PubMed, Scopus, Google Scholar and PsycINFO, 43 articles were selected for the review.

resultsSeven definitions of recovery emerged, each supported by specific theoretical perspectives: clinical, personal, narrative, social, family, cultural and relational recovery. The adjectives refer to theoretical frameworks often very distant from each other and in epistemological competition; nevertheless, many papers assume a reconcilability and possible integration. The authors critically discuss the advantages and risks of considering such different constructs as complementary.

conclusionsKeeping theoretical descriptions and models of healing open and plural means enabling mental health practitioners not to monologise discourses of change by imposing their point of view on users. It means supporting users to authentically seek their healing pathways without conforming to clinicians' expectations. It also means abandoning misleading and naive simplifications and strictly using the appropriate terms relevant to the specific healing construct that researchers refer to from time to time. This is particularly important when it comes to the relational component, which seems to be receiving more and more attention in the literature, and about which there is more confusion. PATIENT OR PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT: The study involved two experts by experience, or peer support specialists, in a more than active role as components of the research team. They participated equally with the other team members in all phases of the work: the design and conduct of the study, the discussion of findings and advice about implications and dissemination.

Indexed as

Mental DisordersMental Health RecoveryHumansclinical recoverymental healthpersonal recoveryrecoveryrelational recoverytheoretical framework of recovery

Identifiers

PMID40088004
PMCPMC11909471

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.