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Abstract
Background: Recovery Colleges address mental health challenges using an educative approach underpinned by a collaborative recovery orientated philosophy. Research has been limited with no studies identified reporting research on the design and delivery of a specific course.
Aims: To understand how Recovery College students and tutors experience the design and delivery of a mental health Recovery College course, specifically the “‘Building Resilience” course.
Method: Thematic analysis of qualitative data related to the experience and process of collaboration in recovery college course design and delivery. Data included 13 qualitative individual interviews with course students and tutors and “naturally occurring” data generated through course preparation and delivery.
Results: Findings drew attention to the centrality of: prior experience and design related to students, tutors and the course structure; co-delivery related to tutors and co-learner impacts; and to the course methods and environment.
Conclusions: Commitment to collaboration in design and delivery of Recovery College courses can mobilise the diverse experiences and expertise of tutors and students. The environment and methods of learning have a significant impact and should be considered alongside content. Boundaries between people and areas of knowledge and experience that arise can be viewed as sources of creativity that can enrich courses.
Acknowledgements
The authors extend their sincere thanks to the participants who took the time to participate in these interviews and/or share products from the course design and delivery and share their thoughts and opinions. We also thank [redacted for anonymous review full text on cover page] for conducting the interviews. Finally, we would like to thank the anonymous journal article reviewers for their constructive comments and suggestions.
Declaration of interest
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
This research received some support from the University of Brighton 10.13039/501100001312, Centre for Health Research Internal Research Grant and from the Imagine Programme funded by grant ES/K002686/2 from the Economic and Social Research Council 10.13039/501100000269 (ESRC). The contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official view of the ESRC. Information on ESRC is available on http://www.esrc.ac.uk/.