Table 1 Definitions of recovery

Clinical recovery

Psychotic and affective symptom remission and adequate functioning for at least 12 months duration.

Psychotic symptomatic remission was defined according to the RSWG (Recovery in Schizophrenia working group) [35] international consensus definition with scores equal to or below 3 on the following PANSS^a items at time of follow-up: positive symptoms (P1-delusions, G9-unusual thought content, P3-hallucinations), dis- organized symptoms (P2-conceptual disorganization, G5-mannerisms/posturing), and negative symptoms (N1-blunted affect, N4-social withdrawal, N6-lack of spontaneity). Discontinuation of medication is not a requirement of symptomatic remission in the consensus definition.

Affective symptomatic remission was defined as an IDS-C^b score below 14, CDSS^c-score below 7 and YMRS^d- score below 8, as well as not meeting criteria for a current affective episode according to SCID-1^e at follow-up.

Adequate functioning was defined as part-time (≥ 40%) work or study, or comparable functioning, independent living and having a close friend/confidant [29].

Personal recovery

Defined in accordance with CHIME [36]. Operationalized as a score above ≥ 45 on the 15-item version of the Questionnaire about the process of recovery (QPR) [4].

Personally defined recovery [32]

Asked participants: “Do you consider yourself in recovery?” and “What does recovery mean to you?”

Note: Instead of the English word recovery, we used the Norwegian word “bedring” in interviews, which roughly can be translated to “ongoing improvement” and describes recovery as a process. We chose to not use “recovery” because it is not in everyday speech and may feel foreign, or participants might specifically associate it with recovery-oriented services and the Norwegian recovery movement.