DiSCOVERY: Post-Diagnostic Dementia Support within the ReCOVERY College Model: A Realist Evaluation

A scoping review of outcome measures for people living with dementia and family supporters to evaluate Recovery College dementia courses (2025)
Journal Article
Alam, J., West, J., Moniz-Cook, E., Wolverson, E., Handley, M., Birt, L., & Fox, C. (2025). A scoping review of outcome measures for people living with dementia and family supporters to evaluate Recovery College dementia courses. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 16, Article 1591772. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1591772

Introduction: Recovery Colleges (RC/RCs) aim to promote personal recovery through co-produced courses, grounded in the CHIME (Connectedness, Hope, Identity, Meaning, Empowerment) framework. The DiSCOVERY research programme noted that RC dementia cour... Read More about A scoping review of outcome measures for people living with dementia and family supporters to evaluate Recovery College dementia courses.

Operationalising the Recovery College model with people living with dementia: a realist review (2024)
Journal Article
Handley, M., Wheeler, C., Duddy, C., Wong, G., Birt, L., Fox, C., Moniz-Cook, E., Hackmann, C., Teague, B., & West, J. (2024). Operationalising the Recovery College model with people living with dementia: a realist review. Aging and Mental Health, 28(8), 1078-1089. https://doi.org/10.1080/13607863.2024.2356878

Objectives: Post-diagnostic support is a significant factor in facilitating personal recovery following a diagnosis of dementia, but access is often inconsistent and insufficient. Recovery Colleges offer peer-led, co-produced courses that can support... Read More about Operationalising the Recovery College model with people living with dementia: a realist review.

Protocol for a realist evaluation of Recovery College dementia courses: understanding coproduction through ethnography (2023)
Journal Article
Birt, L., West, J., Poland, F., Wong, G., Handley, M., Litherland, R., Hackmann, C., Moniz-Cook, E., Wolverson, E., Teague, B., Mills, R., Sams, K., Duddy, C., & Fox, C. (2023). Protocol for a realist evaluation of Recovery College dementia courses: understanding coproduction through ethnography. BMJ open, 13(12), Article e078248. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2023-078248

Introduction Support following a dementia diagnosis in the UK is variable. Attending a Recovery College course with and for people with dementia, their supporters and healthcare professionals (staff), may enable people to explore and enact ways to li... Read More about Protocol for a realist evaluation of Recovery College dementia courses: understanding coproduction through ethnography.

Building an initial understanding of UK Recovery College dementia courses: A national survey of Recovery College and memory services staff. (2023)
Journal Article
Wolverson, E., Hague, L., West, J., Teague, B., Fox, C., Birt, L., Mills, R., Rhodes, T., Sams, K., & Moniz-Cook, E. (in press). Building an initial understanding of UK Recovery College dementia courses: A national survey of Recovery College and memory services staff. Working with Older People, https://doi.org/10.1108/WWOP-02-2023-0003

Purpose
Recovery Colleges were developed to support the recovery of people with mental health difficulties through courses co-produced by professionals and people with lived experience. This study aims to examine the use of Recovery Colleges to supp... Read More about Building an initial understanding of UK Recovery College dementia courses: A national survey of Recovery College and memory services staff..