Recovery Capital Index

RCI Field Guide

An interactive reference for practitioners, clinical staff, program leaders, and evaluators — everything your team needs to understand, implement, and make full use of the Recovery Capital Index.

Explore the Guide RCI Overview

By the numbers

0–100 Validated score range

3 Recovery capital domains

22 Measurable indicators

+11 pts Average gain in first 100 days

Who it's for

Built for every role on your team

The RCI is designed to support direct-service staff, clinical supervisors, and executive leadership — with a different lens for each role.

Practitioners & Clinical Staff

Use domain and indicator subscores to open conversations, guide care planning, and pinpoint where to focus next. The RCI gives language and structure to what you already do intuitively — and aligns directly with Motivational Interviewing principles.

Program Leaders & Administrators

Aggregate RCI data reveals systemic gaps across your population — translating program outcomes into funder-ready evidence. Move from stories and vanity metrics to measurable, defensible impact that survives scrutiny.

Funders & Evaluators

The RCI is the only recovery capital assessment on the Joint Commission Behavioral Healthcare Instrument List. It provides a standardized, validated outcome measure that supports cross-program comparison and rigorous grant reporting.

Interactive Guide

Learn the RCI at Your Own Pace

Nine expandable chapters walk through everything — from what the RCI measures and how it's scored, to sample questions with clinical interpretation and real before-and-after case examples. Open what you need, skip what you don't. No login required.

Recovery Capital Index Validated

An interactive guide for practitioners at every role level

What is the Recovery Capital Index?

The RCI is a scientifically validated, person-centered survey that measures an individual's recovery capital — the breadth and depth of internal and external resources available to support recovery and wellness. It moves beyond abstinence as the sole measure of success and instead captures the full landscape of factors that make lasting recovery possible.

Recovery capital includes things like housing stability, social support, sense of purpose, access to healthcare, and cultural belonging. The RCI quantifies all of these into a single 0–100 score, with subscores by domain and indicator — giving practitioners a map, not just a number.

Score range

0–100

Domains

Indicators

Why does this matter?

Traditional measures ask: is the person using? The RCI asks: how is the person doing? Research shows that factors like employment, family support, sense of purpose, and community connection are as predictive of long-term recovery as substance use patterns. The RCI makes those factors measurable, trackable, and actionable.

It is the only recovery capital assessment on the Joint Commission Behavioral Healthcare Instrument List — a meaningful mark of rigor and credibility for your program.

Built on existing validated science

The RCI incorporates items adapted from the BRFSS, the General Well-Being Schedule, the WHO Quality of Life Spirituality scale (WHOQOL-SRPB), and the PTSD Checklist – Civilian Version. It was designed with CBT and Motivational Interviewing principles at its core, and validated in a peer-reviewed study with Sanford Research.

The RCI organizes recovery capital into three domains, each with distinct indicators. Click a domain to explore its indicators.

Personal capital

Physical, human, and material resources

How an individual's physical health, economic stability, and basic needs support recovery

▾

Cultural capital

Identity, values, and community belonging

How a person's beliefs, spirituality, and sense of purpose sustain recovery

▾

How the domains relate

Validation research confirmed the three domains are meaningfully distinct. Spearman correlations ranged from 0.47 to 0.56 — indicating appropriate relatedness without redundancy.

Personal ↔ Social
r = 0.54

Social ↔ Cultural
r = 0.56

Personal ↔ Cultural
r = 0.47

The RCI is available in three validated versions. All produce a 0–100 score using the same framework. Choose based on your clinical context, session type, and available time.

RCI-68

Full diagnostic

RCI-36

Standard assessment

RCI-10

Brief screen

Recommended cadence

For most programs, administer the RCI at intake and every 90 days thereafter. This cadence aligns with typical program cycles and is sufficient to detect meaningful change. Participants average an 11-point increase in RCI score over the first 100 days — a clinically meaningful signal that the instrument is sensitive to real-world growth.

Use the sliders to explore how domain scores combine into an overall RCI score and what each score range means clinically.

Score explorer

—

Personal capital60

Social capital55

Cultural capital65

Personal

Social

Cultural

How the score is calculated

Each item is answered on a 5-point Likert scale (1 = Strongly Disagree, 5 = Strongly Agree). All items are answered — no skip options. Some items are reverse-scored so that "Strongly Agree" on a negatively worded item still reflects good capital. Raw responses are summed and converted to the 0–100 scale. The instrument is unweighted — every item contributes equally. Domain and indicator subscores are computed the same way from their respective item subsets.

Here's how the RCI fits into real clinical and support workflows — from intake through longitudinal tracking.

Activation and intake

At enrollment, administer the RCI as a baseline assessment. Pair it with the Demographic Form and Cantril Life Satisfaction scale for a complete picture. Explain to the participant that this is not a test — there are no right or wrong answers, and results are used to support them, not evaluate them.

Score review with the participant

Share the scores in plain language. Use domain-level breakdowns to open a conversation: "Your social capital score was lower than your other areas — what's your sense of why?" This aligns with Motivational Interviewing principles embedded in the RCI's design. The score is a conversation starter, not a verdict.

Identify priority indicators

Drill into individual indicators to find where scores are lowest. These become natural targets for care planning. A low Safety score may signal domestic instability; a low Sense of Purpose score may point to grief, unemployment, or disconnection. Each indicator maps to a real intervention lever.

Re-administer every 90 days

Longitudinal data is where the RCI delivers its greatest value. Scores that improve confirm interventions are working. Scores that plateau or decline are early signals to adjust the support plan. Participants average an 11-point improvement in the first 100 days — tracking this gives staff real evidence to share with supervisors and funders.

Use aggregate data for program improvement

At the program level, domain subscores across your population reveal systemic gaps. If Social capital scores are consistently low across participants, that's a program-design signal — not just an individual one. The RCI was designed to support both individual care decisions and population-level program evaluation.

Role-specific notes

Peer support specialists

Focus on Social and Cultural capital indicators — these often resonate most with lived experience conversations. The RCI gives language and structure to what peer support already does intuitively.

Clinical staff

Mental & emotional wellbeing and safety indicators can complement clinical assessments. RCI scores can surface concerns early before a full clinical evaluation.

Case managers

Personal capital indicators — housing, employment, transportation, financial wellbeing — map directly to resources and referrals. Low scores here are action items.

Admin and program staff

The RCI produces aggregate reports that translate program outcomes into funder-ready evidence — moving from "stories and vanity data" to measurable, defensible impact.

See how RCI questions actually look and feel — and how a participant's response maps to a score. Click a response to see how it's interpreted.

About the Likert scale

All items use a 5-point scale. Positively worded items score 1–5 directly (Strongly Agree = 5 points). Negatively worded items are reverse-scored — Strongly Agree = 1 point, Strongly Disagree = 5 points. This keeps the scoring intuitive: higher is always better for recovery capital.

Strongly
disagree
1

Disagree

2

Neutral

3

Agree

4

Strongly
agree
5

This shows what a realistic 90-day reassessment looks like for a participant in a recovery support program. Scores reflect the documented average of an 11-point overall gain.

Participant: Jordan M. | 90-day reassessment +11 pts overall

INTAKE

Build · 0–50

Personal

Social

Cultural

90 DAYS

Strengthen · 51–70

Personal

Social

Cultural

What changed — and what to do next

Jordan moved from the Build to the Strengthen category — a meaningful milestone. The overall 11-point gain reflects real growth, but the picture is uneven across domains, which is typical. Social capital showed the smallest gain, and drilling into the indicators reveals that the Safety and Social Mobility subscores remain low.

Priority indicators for next 90 days: Safety (Social capital) and Social Mobility (Social capital). Consider housing stability review and exploration of social network expansion through peer group participation.

Celebrate with Jordan: Cultural capital gained the most — Sense of Purpose and Beliefs scores both improved. Name this explicitly in your next session. Reinforcing what is working is as important as addressing what is not.

A note on score declines

Not every reassessment shows gains. If scores decline, treat this as a signal, not a failure. A drop in Personal capital may indicate a job loss, housing disruption, or health event. A drop in Cultural capital may reflect grief, isolation, or community conflict. Open a conversation — "I notice your scores shifted since last time. What's been going on for you?" — and adjust the support plan accordingly.

Quick reference definitions for all 22 RCI indicators. Use this during care planning to match a low score to a concrete support focus.

Personal capital (9 indicators)

Social capital (7 indicators)

Cultural capital (6 indicators)

Is the RCI a clinical diagnosis tool? ▾

No. The RCI is a self-report assessment of recovery capital — it measures wellness assets, not symptoms or diagnoses. It complements clinical tools but does not replace them. It is appropriate for use by both clinical and non-clinical staff in appropriate contexts.

Does the participant need to be abstinent to take it? ▾

No — and this is a key design feature. The RCI was designed to be person-centered and holistic, irrespective of a person's treatment modality, recovery pathway, or substance use status. It measures wellbeing, not sobriety.

What if a participant scores very low across all domains? ▾

A low score (0–50, "Build" category) signals limited recovery capital and need for deep support. Treat it as a care planning priority — not a judgment. A low baseline also means the most room for measurable growth, which matters for both the participant and program reporting.

How long does it take to complete? ▾

The RCI-68 takes approximately 5–7 minutes. The RCI-36 takes about 3–5 minutes. The RCI-10 can be completed in 1–2 minutes and is appropriate as a brief screen or check-in between full assessments.

Can scores go down between assessments? ▾

Yes. Recovery is not linear. A decline in scores is a signal, not a failure — it may indicate a life stressor, relapse, housing instability, or relationship loss. Treat score changes as conversation starters. Longitudinal patterns tell the real story.

Is the RCI appropriate for justice-involved populations? ▾

Yes, and it has been validated in this context. Published research (Howard et al., 2024) found baseline social capital predicted both personal capital at 90 days and reduced rearrest rates. The Safety and Social Mobility indicators are especially relevant in justice settings.

What does the Cronbach's alpha tell us about reliability? ▾

The validation study found a Cronbach's alpha of 0.88 across the 9 subscales — indicating high internal consistency. Items within each domain measure related aspects of the same underlying construct, and results are reliable across administrations. All inter-subscale correlations were statistically significant (p < 0.05).

Research & Resources

Validation, Evidence & Reference Materials

The RCI is built on peer-reviewed science. Download the research and reference materials your program needs to implement with confidence.

Peer-Reviewed Research

RCI Validation Study

The original peer-reviewed validation study conducted with Sanford Research, establishing the RCI's psychometric properties, Cronbach's alpha (0.88), and inter-domain correlations across the three capital domains.

Download PDF

Research Article

Justice-Involved Populations Study

Howard et al. (2024) — Published research finding that baseline social capital predicted personal capital at 90 days and reduced rearrest rates in justice-involved recovery populations using the RCI.

View article

Solution Brief

RCI Overview & Implementation Guide

A practitioner-facing overview of the Recovery Capital Index — how it works, how to administer it, and how to use scores in care conversations, longitudinal tracking, and program reporting.

Download PDF

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Ready to bring the RCI to your program?

The RCI is deployed through Modus — Commonly Well's clinical data platform. Schedule a demo to see how it fits your program's workflow.

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RCI Field Guide

Built for every role on your team

Practitioners & Clinical Staff

Program Leaders & Administrators

Funders & Evaluators

Learn the RCI at Your Own Pace

What is the Recovery Capital Index?

Why does this matter?

Built on existing validated science

Physical, human, and material resources

Relationships and community environment

Identity, values, and community belonging

How the domains relate

Recommended cadence

Score explorer

How the score is calculated

Activation and intake

Score review with the participant

Identify priority indicators

Re-administer every 90 days

Use aggregate data for program improvement

Role-specific notes

About the Likert scale

What changed — and what to do next

A note on score declines

Validation, Evidence & Reference Materials

RCI Validation Study

Justice-Involved Populations Study

RCI Overview & Implementation Guide

Ready to bring the RCI to your program?

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