RECOLLECT 2

In England, there are 77 Recovery Colleges that provide a particular kind of adult education. Each course is designed by service users, carers and mental health staff, and classes are attended by a similar mix of people. Colleges aim to support service users to manage their condition and live a full life.

The aim of RECOLLECT 2 is to find out how Recovery Colleges can provide the most benefit to people who use mental health services. Embedded within six-year mixed methods programme of observational studies, we will conduct qualitative case studies of Recovery Colleges to finalise our understanding of how Recovery Colleges produce change.

At each site we will use a combination of focus groups with Recovery Colleges students and in-depth interviews with professional and managerial stakeholders. We will use framework analysis to facilitate analysis within and between groups of participants to establish key contextual and organisational factors influencing how Recovery Colleges are delivered and variation in outcomes.