Characteristics of mental health service users attending Recovery Colleges in England: baseline findings from Recovery Colleges Characterisation and Testing (RECOLLECT).
Recovery Colleges are adult education initiatives supporting personal recovery for individuals with mental health difficulties. We characterised a national (England) inception cohort of mental health service users, students from the Recovery Colleges Characterisation and Testing 2 programme, and compared those attending different Recovery College types on sociodemographic, clinical, service use and student-reported outcomes over the 4 months prior to enrolment. Mixed-effects regression models were used to assess differences.
The cohort comprised 498 students from 36 Recovery Colleges across England; 77.7% attended strengths-oriented Recovery Colleges. Mean age was 39 years (s.d. 12); most were female (72.1%) and White (81.5%). Common diagnoses were mood (31.3%) and anxiety disorders (29.7%). No significant differences were found between students attending strengths- versus community-oriented Recovery Colleges.
Strengths- and community-oriented Recovery Colleges have similar service user student populations. Certain groups that may be underrepresented in Recovery Colleges and Recovery College research include older adults, men, those with developmental disorders and ethnic minority populations.
The cohort comprised 498 students from 36 Recovery Colleges across England; 77.7% attended strengths-oriented Recovery Colleges. Mean age was 39 years (s.d. 12); most were female (72.1%) and White (81.5%). Common diagnoses were mood (31.3%) and anxiety disorders (29.7%). No significant differences were found between students attending strengths- versus community-oriented Recovery Colleges.
Strengths- and community-oriented Recovery Colleges have similar service user student populations. Certain groups that may be underrepresented in Recovery Colleges and Recovery College research include older adults, men, those with developmental disorders and ethnic minority populations.
Authors
Lawrence Lawrence, Ronaldson Ronaldson, Allen Allen, McPhilbin McPhilbin, Takhi Takhi, Kapka Kapka, Simpson Simpson, Daryanani Daryanani, Hayes Hayes, Jebara Jebara, Dunnett Dunnett, Namasaba Namasaba, Kotera Kotera, Skipper Skipper, Meddings Meddings, Rennison Rennison, Lawrence Lawrence, Bakolis Bakolis, Emsley Emsley, Elliott Elliott, Stepanian Stepanian, Barrett Barrett, Elton Elton, Henderson Henderson, Slade Slade
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