What about value for money? A cost benefit analysis of the South Eastern Sydney Recovery and Wellbeing College.

BACKGROUND: Recovery Colleges assist people in their personal recovery journeys by offering an approach that transforms conventional mental health care by using an educational framework. While evaluations of these colleges have demonstrated effectiveness in promoting personal recovery, scant research has been published regarding their economic evaluation. AIMS: To conduct a cost-benefit analysis of the South Eastern Sydney Recovery and Wellbeing College in Australia by exploring health utilisation and direct costs. METHOD: The overall costs of the Recovery College sample (reported from 2014 to 2017) were used to derive a per person, per year cost, adjusted for inflation to 2020 Australian dollars. Benefits were determined by analysing pre/post health service utilisation by service users, and subsequently calculating a net cost saving. RESULTS: There was a statistically significant reduction in Emergency Department and inpatient mental health utilisation following participation in the Recovery College. The net cost savings was A$269 per student per year. CONCLUSIONS: This study indicates that the Recovery College can play an important role in decreasing mental health service and ED utilisation. This reflects reduced reliance on traditional mental health services, thus suggesting that students develop improved self-agency and ability to manage their own mental health.

The role of recovery colleges in supporting personal goal achievement.

OBJECTIVE: This study examined the types of goals set, the degree to which goals were achieved, and the factors influencing goal attainment for participants in a Recovery College, a recovery-based mental health education program that uses peer learning advisors to facilitate individual student learning plans. METHOD: Students of the Recovery College set baseline goals that were rated in terms of importance and difficulty in line with the Goal Attainment Scale (GAS) framework and reviewed at follow-up points. Goals were reviewed to determine areas of priority and an analysis of goal attainment was conducted using multinomial logit regression analysis. RESULTS: Sixty-four students recorded their goals. The most common goal areas identified related to education, socialization, physical health, mental health, and employment. Seventy percent of goals were fully or partially achieved with goals rated as having a lower difficulty more likely to be achieved. CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: Recovery College is a program model that can effectively support personal goal achievement, a recommended indicator of personal recovery and program success. The GAS proved to be a useful instrument for measuring goal setting and attainment in students' recovery journeys and peer learning advisors were effective in facilitating this process. The setting and achievement of physical health goals is of clinical significance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Action of peroxidases on protein hydroperoxides.

Protein hydroperoxides constitute a potential hazard to living organisms because of their direct reactivity with a variety of biomolecules and the ability to decompose to free radicals. This study addressed the possibility of enzymatic removal of hydroperoxide groups from proteins, peptides and amino acids peroxidized by gamma radiation. At neutral pH and 37 degrees C, selenium glutathione peroxidase accelerated reduction of peroxidized insulin and valine, but was ineffective with the larger BSA and lysozyme molecules. The enzyme also increased the rate of glutathione-induced reduction of peroxidized BSA after treatment with proteinase K, suggesting that size of the peroxidized molecule plays a role in the catalysis. Phospholipid glutathione peroxidase, lactoperoxidase and ebselen did not accelerate the decomposition of protein or amino acid hydroperoxides. Cysteine and methionine were the only 2 of 20 amino acids tested able to increase the rates of spontaneous decay of the protein hydroperoxides. It appears that much of the slow decay of protein hydroperoxides generated in cells exposed to hydroxyl or peroxyl radicals may be due to intramolecular reactions, with little assistance from peroxidases.