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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 support people with dementia.

A survey was circulated to UK Recovery College and memory service staff, exploring provision, delivery and attendance of dementia courses. Open responses provided insight into participant views about recovery in post-diagnostic support and the practicalities of running dementia courses.

A total of 51 Recovery College staff and 210 memory service staff completed the survey. Twelve Recovery College dementia courses were identified across the UK. Three categories emerged from the qualitative data: post-diagnostic support, recovery in the context of dementia, challenges and areas of innovation.

This study highlights the benefits and practicalities of running Recovery College courses with people with dementia. Peer-to-peer learning was seen as valuable in post-diagnostic support but opinions were divided about the term recovery in dementia.

This study aims to explore the utility of collaborative knowledge sharing with stakeholders in developing and evaluating a training programme for health professionals to implement a social intervention in dementia research.

The programme consisted of two phases: 1) development phase guided by the Buckley and Caple’s training model and 2) evaluation phase drew on the Kirkpatrick’s evaluation model. Survey and interview data was collected from health professionals, people with dementia and their supporters who attended the training programme, delivered or participated in the intervention. Qualitative data was analysed using the framework analysis.

Seven health professionals participated in consultations in the development phase. In the evaluation phase, 20 intervention facilitators completed the post one-day training evaluations and three took part in the intervention interviews. Eight people with dementia and their supporters from the promoting independence in dementia feasibility study participated in focus groups interviews. The findings show that intervention facilitators were satisfied with the training programme. They learnt new knowledge and skills through an interactive learning environment and demonstrated competencies in motivating people with dementia to engage in the intervention. As a result, this training programme was feasible to train intervention facilitators.

The findings could be implemented in other research training contexts where those delivering research interventions have professional skills but do not have knowledge of the theories and protocols of a research intervention.

This study provided insights into the value of collaborative knowledge sharing between academic researchers and multiple non-academic stakeholders that generated knowledge and maximised power through building new capacities and alliances.

This policy-orientated commentary aims to provide a perspective on the effects of policy changes designed to reduce the risk of infection as a result of COVID-19. The example of the abrupt cessation of volunteering activities is used to consider the policy and practice implications that need to be acknowledged in new public service research to deal with the on-going implications of the COVID-19 pandemic and for future preparedness.

The paper will provide a critical challenge to English pandemic health policy making, in particular, the national instruction “to stop non-essential contact with others” without a strategy on how to remedy the serious side effects of this instruction, in particular on older adults.

The abrupt cessation of volunteering activities of and for older people because of the COVID-19 pandemic is highly likely to have negative health and wellbeing effects on older adults with long-term and far-reaching policy implications.

The paper combines existing knowledge volunteering of and for older adults with early pandemic practice evidence to situate an emerging health and wellbeing crisis for older adults. It emphasises the importance of immediate further detailed research to provide evidence for policy and practice following the lifting of COVID-19 related restrictions and in preparation for future crises.

The purpose of this paper is to understand how dementia is represented within current UK Recovery College courses and how people with dementia are involved with such courses.

A scoping survey was developed with seven multiple choice questions. Information was collected to find out: How many Colleges are currently offering dementia courses; have previously offered courses or plan to start offering courses; how they have developed their courses; who delivers them; who can attend; and how long courses have been running. Individual Recovery Colleges could leave contact details if they were interested in collaborating on future research projects. UK Recovery Colleges were identified using a published list (Anfossi, 2017) supplemented with internet searching. 86 e-mail messages were sent to Recovery Colleges inviting Leads/Managers to complete the survey through an electronic link.

Of the 28 (32.6 per cent) Recovery Colleges who completed the survey, 11 reported to be currently offering dementia courses, while eight planned to start doing so. Six Recovery Colleges stated they were not currently offering dementia courses, have not done so previously and have no current plans to.

The survey results indicate variability in provision of UK Recovery College courses for people with dementia, and raise further questions about the way the courses are used, their acceptability and usefulness.

This service evaluation highlights the variability in what is offered, which is an important step in understanding the current service provision.

This study aims to critically examine the effects of COVID-19 social discourses and policy decisions specifically on older adult volunteers in the UK, comparing the responses and their effects in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, providing perspectives on effects of policy changes designed to reduce risk of infection as a result of COVID-19, specifically on volunteer involvement of and for older adults, and understand, from the perspectives of volunteer managers, how COVID-19 restrictions had impacted older people’s volunteering and situating this within statutory public health policies.

The study uses a critical discourse approach to explore, compare and contrast accounts of volunteering of and for older people in policy, and then compare the discourses within policy documents with the discourses in personal accounts of volunteering in health and social care settings in the four nations of the UK. This paper is co-produced in collaboration with co-authors who have direct experience with volunteer involvement responses and their impact on older people.

The prevailing overall policy approach during the pandemic was that risk of morbidity and mortality to older people was too high to permit them to participate in volunteering activities. Disenfranchising of older people, as exemplified in volunteer involvement, was remarkably uniform across the four nations of the UK. However, the authors find that despite, rather than because of policy changes, older volunteers, as part of, or with the help of, volunteer involving organisations, are taking time to think and to reconsider their involvement and are renewing their volunteer involvement with associated health benefits.

Working with participants as co-authors helps to ensure the credibility of results in that there was agreement in the themes identified and the conclusions. A limitation of this study lies in the sampling method, as a convenience sample was used and there is only representation from one organisation in each of the four nations.

The paper combines existing knowledge about volunteer involvement of and for older adults.

The purpose of this study was to understand how innovative work behavior (IWB) was affected by leaders’ relationships with their employees to enhance engagement/job commitment in the grocery retail industry. The general business problem is some organizations in the grocery retail industry lack IWB to generate innovative solutions to remain competitive.

This study used a qualitative method and a single case study design because the literature identified a need to understand how the leader–member relationships, employee engagement/job commitment and employee idea generation and implementation affect organizational innovation in the grocery retail industry. Using this method and design provided the appropriate approach to explore a single organization business process model for innovation. The three data sources for this study were semistructured one-on-one individual interviews, a single focus group and relevant organizational documentation.

The findings showed high-quality relationships between knowledge workers and their leaders can positively affect their engagement/job commitment and ability to generate and implement useful ideas. A fundamental catalyst for IWB is when all four critical forces are in alignment including high-quality relationships between the knowledge workers and their leadership, the employee is fully engaged and the organization promotes risk-taking behavior to create new ideas with its commitment to innovation through resources and prioritization. The millennial participants indicated their leaders should be more transformational leaders coaching and mentoring them rather than transactional task-oriented disciplinarians. The Generation X and baby boomer participants were seeking more autonomy and resources to explore ideas.

Future researchers could consider exploring a deeper understanding of the multigenerational knowledge workers’ needs to help leaders stimulate employee engagement/job commitment and increase IWB.

Organizations are able to meet the market demand for innovation and remain competitive.

Higher quality leader–member relationships lead to employee engagement/job commitment that can increase innovation.

The findings were the trends and preferences revealed within generational groupings. The needs and wants expressed by the millennial participants indicated that their leaders should be more of a coach and mentor. The Generation X and baby boomer participants were seeking more autonomy and resources to explore ideas.