A qualitative study exploring the outcomes of Recovery College attendance for carers / families of services users

To date, Recovery Colleges (RC) have primarily been evaluated in terms of their benefits for users of mental health services. Research has neglected the experiences and needs of family carers in this context. Stage 1 of this study will explore how family/ carers' benefit from attending RCs, using group interviews. Stage 2 will test these mechanisms and outcomes by assessing a group of carers before and after their RC attendance, comparing this to a control group. This will be complemented with survey data and observations of how the sample's RC are delivered in practice to increase our understanding of what helps carers / families in different circumstances, thereby enabling RCs to increase their ability to meet this groups' needs, as well as inform carers and investors in decisionmaking.