The content of recovery college courses in England: a 71 college document analysis

Simran Kaur Takhi; Holly Hunter Brown; Amy Ronaldson; Vanessa Lawrence; Merly McPhilbin; Benjamin Rose Ingall; Riddhi Daryanani; Jonathan Simpson; Tesnime Jebara; Simon Lawrence; Agnieszka Kapka; Yasuhiro Kotera; Danielle Dunnett; Daniel  Hayes; Katy Stepanian; Caroline Fox Yeo; Sara Meddings; Jane Rennison; Katherine Barrett; Jason Grant Rowles; Yuki Miyamoto; Hans Kroon; Mariam Namasaba; Claire Henderson; Mike Slade

doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1605498

The content of recovery college courses in England: a 71 college document analysis

Simran Kaur Takhi^*
, Holly Hunter Brown
, Amy Ronaldson
, Vanessa Lawrence
, Merly McPhilbin
, Benjamin Rose Ingall
, Riddhi Daryanani
, Jonathan Simpson
, Tesnime Jebara
, Simon Lawrence
, Agnieszka Kapka
, Yasuhiro Kotera
, Danielle Dunnett
, Daniel Hayes
, Katy Stepanian
, Caroline Fox Yeo
, Sara Meddings
, Jane Rennison
, Katherine Barrett
, Jason Grant Rowles

Yuki Miyamoto, Hans Kroon, Mariam Namasaba, Claire Henderson, Mike Slade

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Scientific › peer-review

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Abstract

Introduction: Recovery Colleges (RCs) exist in 28 countries and across five continents. The concept of recovery and recovery-oriented care has become widespread internationally and embedded in policy documentation and mental health services. As a result, Recovery Colleges, which focus on adult learning and co-production, have now developed a global presence, but many psychiatrists are unfamiliar with this intervention. RCs can be categorized as ‘Strengths Oriented’, focusing on skills and knowledge development, or ‘Community-oriented’, emphasizing strengthening community and social connections. Research has not sufficiently investigated RC curriculum and how course provision differs depending on RC orientation. The study aimed to develop a typology of RC courses and assess differences in course types across RC orientations.

Method: A document analysis was conducted. The websites of 88 RCs in England were searched to collect online prospectuses. Overall, 2,330 courses described in 551 documents from 71 RCs were collated. Inductive content analysis was applied to the course titles to develop a typology of courses offered. Mann-Whitney U tests were used to assess differences in the median number of course types offered by Strengths-Oriented versus Community-Oriented colleges.

Results: A typology of 14 superordinate course categories was created. The three most common course categories were Self-management of Well-being (96% RCs ≥1 course, median 10 courses per RC), Mental Health Conditions and Symptoms (85% RCs ≥1 course, 4 courses per RC), and Creativity (86% RCs ≥1 course, 3 courses per RC). The least common course categories included Issues relating to the Extended Support Network and Issues relating to Staff (38% RCs ≥1 course, 0 courses per RC) (6% RCs ≥1 course, 0 courses per RC). The median number of courses did not differ between Strengths-oriented versus Community-oriented RCs, with the exception of more Practical Life Skills (p=0.021) and Involvement, Co-production and Research (p=0.036) courses in Strengths-oriented RCs.

Conclusions: RCs support mental health recovery through a diverse curriculum. Community-facing and strengths-based, health service-affiliated RCs offer similar courses. RCs prioritize equipping students with knowledge about living with mental health issues. Courses targeted to informal carers are lacking. Further cross-cultural extension of the typology is needed.

Original language	English
Number of pages	10
Journal	Frontiers in Psychiatry
Volume	16
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1605498
Publication status	Published - 2025

Keywords

Recovery college
document analysis
fidelity measure
course content
inductive content analysis

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Takhi, S. K., Hunter Brown, H., Ronaldson, A., Lawrence, V., McPhilbin, M., Rose Ingall, B., Daryanani, R., Simpson, J., Jebara, T., Lawrence, S., Kapka, A., Kotera, Y., Dunnett, D., Hayes, D., Stepanian, K., Fox Yeo, C., Meddings, S., Rennison, J., Barrett, K., ... Slade, M. (2025). The content of recovery college courses in England: a 71 college document analysis. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 16. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1605498

@article{72e8cbcc43e649e98249da514f71c253,

title = "The content of recovery college courses in England: a 71 college document analysis",

abstract = "Introduction: Recovery Colleges (RCs) exist in 28 countries and across five continents. The concept of recovery and recovery-oriented care has become widespread internationally and embedded in policy documentation and mental health services. As a result, Recovery Colleges, which focus on adult learning and co-production, have now developed a global presence, but many psychiatrists are unfamiliar with this intervention. RCs can be categorized as {\textquoteleft}Strengths Oriented{\textquoteright}, focusing on skills and knowledge development, or {\textquoteleft}Community-oriented{\textquoteright}, emphasizing strengthening community and social connections. Research has not sufficiently investigated RC curriculum and how course provision differs depending on RC orientation. The study aimed to develop a typology of RC courses and assess differences in course types across RC orientations. Method: A document analysis was conducted. The websites of 88 RCs in England were searched to collect online prospectuses. Overall, 2,330 courses described in 551 documents from 71 RCs were collated. Inductive content analysis was applied to the course titles to develop a typology of courses offered. Mann-Whitney U tests were used to assess differences in the median number of course types offered by Strengths-Oriented versus Community-Oriented colleges. Results: A typology of 14 superordinate course categories was created. The three most common course categories were Self-management of Well-being (96\% RCs ≥1 course, median 10 courses per RC), Mental Health Conditions and Symptoms (85\% RCs ≥1 course, 4 courses per RC), and Creativity (86\% RCs ≥1 course, 3 courses per RC). The least common course categories included Issues relating to the Extended Support Network and Issues relating to Staff (38\% RCs ≥1 course, 0 courses per RC) (6\% RCs ≥1 course, 0 courses per RC). The median number of courses did not differ between Strengths-oriented versus Community-oriented RCs, with the exception of more Practical Life Skills (p=0.021) and Involvement, Co-production and Research (p=0.036) courses in Strengths-oriented RCs. Conclusions: RCs support mental health recovery through a diverse curriculum. Community-facing and strengths-based, health service-affiliated RCs offer similar courses. RCs prioritize equipping students with knowledge about living with mental health issues. Courses targeted to informal carers are lacking. Further cross-cultural extension of the typology is needed.",

keywords = "Recovery college, document analysis, fidelity measure, course content, inductive content analysis",

author = "Takhi, \{Simran Kaur\} and \{Hunter Brown\}, Holly and Amy Ronaldson and Vanessa Lawrence and Merly McPhilbin and \{Rose Ingall\}, Benjamin and Riddhi Daryanani and Jonathan Simpson and Tesnime Jebara and Simon Lawrence and Agnieszka Kapka and Yasuhiro Kotera and Danielle Dunnett and Daniel Hayes and Katy Stepanian and \{Fox Yeo\}, Caroline and Sara Meddings and Jane Rennison and Katherine Barrett and Rowles, \{Jason Grant\} and Yuki Miyamoto and Hans Kroon and Mariam Namasaba and Claire Henderson and Mike Slade",

note = "Projectcode: 42003243",

year = "2025",

doi = "10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1605498",

language = "English",

volume = "16",

journal = "Frontiers in Psychiatry",

issn = "1664-0640",

publisher = "Frontiers Media SA",

}

Takhi, SK, Hunter Brown, H, Ronaldson, A, Lawrence, V, McPhilbin, M, Rose Ingall, B, Daryanani, R, Simpson, J, Jebara, T, Lawrence, S, Kapka, A, Kotera, Y, Dunnett, D, Hayes, D, Stepanian, K, Fox Yeo, C, Meddings, S, Rennison, J, Barrett, K, Rowles, JG, Miyamoto, Y, Kroon, H, Namasaba, M, Henderson, C & Slade, M 2025, 'The content of recovery college courses in England: a 71 college document analysis', Frontiers in Psychiatry, vol. 16. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1605498

TY - JOUR

T1 - The content of recovery college courses in England

T2 - a 71 college document analysis

AU - Takhi, Simran Kaur

AU - Hunter Brown, Holly

AU - Ronaldson, Amy

AU - Lawrence, Vanessa

AU - McPhilbin, Merly

AU - Rose Ingall, Benjamin

AU - Daryanani, Riddhi

AU - Simpson, Jonathan

AU - Jebara, Tesnime

AU - Lawrence, Simon

AU - Kapka, Agnieszka

AU - Kotera, Yasuhiro

AU - Dunnett, Danielle

AU - Hayes, Daniel

AU - Stepanian, Katy

AU - Fox Yeo, Caroline

AU - Meddings, Sara

AU - Rennison, Jane

AU - Barrett, Katherine

AU - Rowles, Jason Grant

AU - Miyamoto, Yuki

AU - Kroon, Hans

AU - Namasaba, Mariam

AU - Henderson, Claire

AU - Slade, Mike

N1 - Projectcode: 42003243

PY - 2025

Y1 - 2025

N2 - Introduction: Recovery Colleges (RCs) exist in 28 countries and across five continents. The concept of recovery and recovery-oriented care has become widespread internationally and embedded in policy documentation and mental health services. As a result, Recovery Colleges, which focus on adult learning and co-production, have now developed a global presence, but many psychiatrists are unfamiliar with this intervention. RCs can be categorized as ‘Strengths Oriented’, focusing on skills and knowledge development, or ‘Community-oriented’, emphasizing strengthening community and social connections. Research has not sufficiently investigated RC curriculum and how course provision differs depending on RC orientation. The study aimed to develop a typology of RC courses and assess differences in course types across RC orientations. Method: A document analysis was conducted. The websites of 88 RCs in England were searched to collect online prospectuses. Overall, 2,330 courses described in 551 documents from 71 RCs were collated. Inductive content analysis was applied to the course titles to develop a typology of courses offered. Mann-Whitney U tests were used to assess differences in the median number of course types offered by Strengths-Oriented versus Community-Oriented colleges. Results: A typology of 14 superordinate course categories was created. The three most common course categories were Self-management of Well-being (96% RCs ≥1 course, median 10 courses per RC), Mental Health Conditions and Symptoms (85% RCs ≥1 course, 4 courses per RC), and Creativity (86% RCs ≥1 course, 3 courses per RC). The least common course categories included Issues relating to the Extended Support Network and Issues relating to Staff (38% RCs ≥1 course, 0 courses per RC) (6% RCs ≥1 course, 0 courses per RC). The median number of courses did not differ between Strengths-oriented versus Community-oriented RCs, with the exception of more Practical Life Skills (p=0.021) and Involvement, Co-production and Research (p=0.036) courses in Strengths-oriented RCs. Conclusions: RCs support mental health recovery through a diverse curriculum. Community-facing and strengths-based, health service-affiliated RCs offer similar courses. RCs prioritize equipping students with knowledge about living with mental health issues. Courses targeted to informal carers are lacking. Further cross-cultural extension of the typology is needed.

AB - Introduction: Recovery Colleges (RCs) exist in 28 countries and across five continents. The concept of recovery and recovery-oriented care has become widespread internationally and embedded in policy documentation and mental health services. As a result, Recovery Colleges, which focus on adult learning and co-production, have now developed a global presence, but many psychiatrists are unfamiliar with this intervention. RCs can be categorized as ‘Strengths Oriented’, focusing on skills and knowledge development, or ‘Community-oriented’, emphasizing strengthening community and social connections. Research has not sufficiently investigated RC curriculum and how course provision differs depending on RC orientation. The study aimed to develop a typology of RC courses and assess differences in course types across RC orientations. Method: A document analysis was conducted. The websites of 88 RCs in England were searched to collect online prospectuses. Overall, 2,330 courses described in 551 documents from 71 RCs were collated. Inductive content analysis was applied to the course titles to develop a typology of courses offered. Mann-Whitney U tests were used to assess differences in the median number of course types offered by Strengths-Oriented versus Community-Oriented colleges. Results: A typology of 14 superordinate course categories was created. The three most common course categories were Self-management of Well-being (96% RCs ≥1 course, median 10 courses per RC), Mental Health Conditions and Symptoms (85% RCs ≥1 course, 4 courses per RC), and Creativity (86% RCs ≥1 course, 3 courses per RC). The least common course categories included Issues relating to the Extended Support Network and Issues relating to Staff (38% RCs ≥1 course, 0 courses per RC) (6% RCs ≥1 course, 0 courses per RC). The median number of courses did not differ between Strengths-oriented versus Community-oriented RCs, with the exception of more Practical Life Skills (p=0.021) and Involvement, Co-production and Research (p=0.036) courses in Strengths-oriented RCs. Conclusions: RCs support mental health recovery through a diverse curriculum. Community-facing and strengths-based, health service-affiliated RCs offer similar courses. RCs prioritize equipping students with knowledge about living with mental health issues. Courses targeted to informal carers are lacking. Further cross-cultural extension of the typology is needed.

KW - Recovery college

KW - document analysis

KW - fidelity measure

KW - course content

KW - inductive content analysis

U2 - 10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1605498

DO - 10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1605498

M3 - Article

SN - 1664-0640

VL - 16

JO - Frontiers in Psychiatry

JF - Frontiers in Psychiatry

ER -

The content of recovery college courses in England: a 71 college document analysis

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