Post-Diagnostic Dementia Support within the ReCOVERY College Model

  • Research type

    Research Study

  • Full title

    Post-Diagnostic Dementia Support within the ReCOVERY College Model: A Realist Evaluation (DiSCOVERY) Work Package 1 - Building an initial understanding of Recovery College dementia courses in the NHS

  • IRAS ID

    309761

  • Contact name

    Christopher Fox

  • Contact email

    christopher.fox@exeter.ac.uk

  • Sponsor organisation

    Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust

  • Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier

    CRD42021293687, PROSPERO

  • Duration of Study in the UK

    0 years, 5 months, 30 days

  • Research summary

    What is the problem?
    Receiving a diagnosis of dementia is life-changing for the person and their family. Lots of factors can affect the quality of support post-diagnosis.

    Mental health trusts have adopted Recovery Colleges to support adults with a range of difficulties. These offer educational courses for people who use mental health services, their families and staff. People living with mental health difficulties help with the design and running of the courses (co-produce), alongside staff members. Some Recovery Colleges across England offer courses with/for people with dementia.

    What do we want to find out?
    We want to understand how, following diagnosis of dementia, Recovery Colleges can help people. We want to find out what attending, co-designing, and co-running courses is like for people with dementia, families, and staff. We also want to know how people who access NHS memory services find out about these courses.

    How will we do this?
    We will ask questions to find out what works for whom, in what circumstances, and why. We will start from our early ideas on what makes a Recovery College dementia course work.

    We will visit different dementia courses and interview people. We will discuss this information with everyone involved to reflect real life. We will use this updated theory to co-produce guidance and resources for UK Recovery Colleges.

    How have we worked with people with dementia?
    People with dementia and their families helped shape our starting theory of how Recovery College dementia courses could work, by sharing their experiences.

    How will we share our findings?
    We will work with the national Dementia Engagement and Empowerment Project. We will share our findings and co-produced resources through local and national groups. These will include NHS memory services, UK Recovery Colleges and other groups that support people with dementia.

  • REC name

    West Midlands - Coventry & Warwickshire Research Ethics Committee

  • REC reference

    22/WM/0021

  • Date of REC Opinion

    16 Mar 2022

  • REC opinion

    Further Information Favourable Opinion