RECOLLECT

Qualitative Approach and Methods

Aim of the qualitative component

To understand how Recovery Colleges operate across diverse organisational contexts, how contextual and organisational factors influence fidelity, mechanisms of action and outcomes, while advancing methodological approaches to collaborative qualitative research involving people with lived experience.

Qualitative methodology

A multi-phase participatory qualitative research programme combining organisational case studies, lived-experience-led qualitative data collection, collaborative qualitative analysis, and theory-informed synthesis across programme work packages.

Which qualitative methods were used?

Qualitative approaches include individual interviews with Recovery College managers, staff, trainers, and students; organisational case studies across multiple colleges; participatory focus groups co-facilitated by lived-experience researchers; document analyses of Recovery College curricula and materials; and collaborative data analysis workshops involving academic and lived-experience researchers.

Sampling & recruitment

Participants are purposively recruited across multiple Recovery Colleges to capture variation in organisational structures, operational contexts, and stakeholder perspectives, including managers, trainers, peer workers, students, and commissioners.

Data analysis: how the team made sense of the data

Qualitative data are analysed using thematic, framework, discursive, and collaborative analytic approaches. Participatory collaborative data analysis methods enable co-production of coding frameworks and interpretations with lived-experience researchers, supporting development and refinement of the RECOLLECT programme theory.

Findings, Learning & Impact

Summary of main findings

Data collection and analysis are ongoing. Emerging findings are examining how Recovery Colleges function as complex, context-sensitive interventions shaped by organisational relationships, funding structures, and co-production practices, and how these factors influence fidelity, mechanisms, and outcomes.

Why were qualitative methods used in this project, and what did they enable?

Participatory qualitative methods enable:

• Identification of contextual and organisational mechanisms influencing Recovery College effectiveness.
• Development and refinement of the programme theory.
• Integration of lived-experience expertise into research design and interpretation.
• Advancement of collaborative qualitative analysis methodologies for health services research.

Lessons learnt / reflections?

As the programme progresses, participatory collaborative approaches to data collection and analysis are demonstrating practical models for embedding meaningful co-production within large-scale mixed-methods health-services research.

Impact & influence

RECOLLECT is generating national evidence on Recovery Colleges while advancing methodological innovation in participatory qualitative research, collaborative data analysis, and co-produced programme theory development, informing policy, service design, and future implementation guidance.

Links, Outputs & Resources

Links to publications

• Hayes, D., Henderson, C., Bakolis, I., Lawrence, V., Elliott, R. A., Ronaldson, A., Richards, G., Repper, J., Bates, P., Brewin, J., Meddings, S., Winship, G., Bishop, S., Emsley, R., Elton, D., McNaughton, R., Whitley, R., Smelson, D., Stepanian, K., … Slade, M. (2022). Recovery Colleges Characterisation and Testing in England (RECOLLECT): Rationale and protocol. BMC Psychiatry, 22(1), 627. Available here.
• McPhilbin, M., Stepanian, K., Yeo, C., Elton, D., Dunnett, D., Jennings, H., Hunter-Brown, H., Grant-Rowles, J., Cooper, J., Barrett, K., Hamie, M., Bates, P., McNaughton, R., Trickett, S., Bishop, S., Takhi, S., Lawrence, S., Kotera, Y., Hayes, D., … Lawrence, V. (2024). Investigating the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on recovery colleges: Multi-site qualitative study. BJPsych Open, 10(3), e113. Available here.
• Takhi, S. K., Brown, H. H., Ronaldson, A., Lawrence, V., McPhilbin, M., Ingall, B. R., Daryanani, R., Simpson, J., Jebara, T., Lawrence, S., Kapka, A., Kotera, Y., Dunnett, D., Hayes, D., Stepanian, K., Yeo, C. F., 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, 1605498. Available here.
• Takhi, S. K., Jebara, T., McPhilbin, M., Stepanian, K., Dunnett, D., Grant-Rowles, J., Osman, Y., Winship, G., Repper, J., Ronaldson, A., Namasaba, M., Kotera, Y., Bates, P., Lawrence, S., Kapka, A., Meddings, S., Rennison, J., Patmore, L., Henderson, C., … Lawrence, V. (2026). Organisational variation in Recovery College implementation: 31-college qualitative study. BJPsych Open, 12(1), e49. Available here.
• Kotera, Y., Jebara, T., Lawrence, V., Takhi, S., Ronaldson, A., Lawrence, S., Kellermann, V., Kapka, A., Bates, P., Henderson, C., & Slade, M. (2025). Enhancing cross-cultural applicability in recovery colleges: A global Delphi study protocol. PLOS One, 20(9), e0332729. Available here.
• Staff perspectives on contextual and organisational factors influencing Recovery College fidelity and operation in England: a five-college qualitative case study. (In preparation.)
• Navigating Dual Identities: A Discursive Analysis of How People with Lived Experience Facilitate Mental Health Research Focus Groups. (In preparation.)
• Updated best practice framework for involvement of lived experience in collaborative data analysis of qualitative mental health research. (In preparation.)

Creative/visual materials

• RECOLLECT - Research Into Recovery