Strengthening Nurses’ Capacity in Recovery Capital Assessment through BARC-10 Implementation at a Rehabilitation Unit in Jakarta

Abstract

Recovery capital is an important component in supporting sustained recovery among individuals with substance use disorders. However, recovery capital assessment has not been routinely integrated into nursing assessments in rehabilitation services. This community service activity aimed to introduce the use of the Brief Assessment of Recovery Capital-10 (BARC-10) and improve nurses’ knowledge and perceived skills in its use. The activity involved 12 nurses and consisted of instrument preparation, education, demonstration, practice, and implementation of BARC-10 among patients in a rehabilitation unit. BARC-10 was initially piloted with 10 patients and subsequently implemented with 30 different patients. Evaluation was conducted using a one-group pre-test–post-test approach. Knowledge was assessed using 10 true–false items, attitudes using 10 items on a 5-point Likert scale, and perceived skills using 10 self-assessment items on a 4-point scale. Differences in knowledge and attitude scores were analyzed using the Wilcoxon signed-rank test, while perceived skills were analyzed using the paired-samples t-test. The mean knowledge score increased from 67.50 to 96.67 (p=0.002), while the mean perceived skills score increased from 23.42 to 31.67 (p<0.001). The mean attitude score changed from 40.42 to 41.42, but the difference did not reach statistical significance (p=0.105). The evaluation demonstrated an initial improvement in nurses’ knowledge and perceived skills in using BARC-10, while the change in attitude scores was not statistically significant. These findings support the initial use of BARC-10 as a supplementary instrument for assessing recovery capital in rehabilitation services, although further evaluation is required before broader implementation.