Barriers to attendance at Recovery Colleges
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore what affects attendance at Recovery College, what students who have missed classes perceive to be the barriers to attendance and suggestions for improvement.
Design/methodology/approach
Survey of 16 students who have missed Recovery College classes.
Findings
The most common reasons for non-attendance were personal factors associated with physical illness; competing commitments or life events; and worries about other students and anxiety. Recovery College factors included inconvenient location, time or date of the course and poor communication from the college. Students found individual learning plans (ILPs) helpful and that they improved attendance. Recommendations are made to improve attendance through clearer information and communication; ILPs, text reminders before classes and phone calls from tutors if students miss classes.
Originality/value
Many services are looking at how to become more cost effective – improving attendance is one such way. This paper offers an analysis of barriers to attendance and makes recommendations about how attendance can be improved.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
Many thanks to all the students who participated in this project and to Jane McGregor who supported the development of this paper. Thanks also to the student representatives, peer trainers, clinicians, managers and researchers from the Recovery College Research, Audit and Evaluation team; and the local campus steering groups.
Citation
Dunn, E.A., Chow, J., Meddings, S. and Haycock, L.J. (2016), "Barriers to attendance at Recovery Colleges", Mental Health and Social Inclusion, Vol. 20 No. 4, pp. 238-246. https://doi.org/10.1108/MHSI-08-2016-0025
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2016, Emerald Group Publishing Limited