CapExchange: protocol for a pilot feasibility study of a capacity-exchange programme for mental health recovery

Abstract Background People living with severe mental disorders are often approached primarily through the lens of deficits and functional limitations. Yet many possess practical skills, relational capacities, and everyday knowledge that can circulate meaningfully within their environment. Recovery-oriented literature describes autonomy, empowerment, and social inclusion, but offers fewer operational models for recognising social contribution in the present moment. CapExchange is a psychosocial rehabilitation programme based on service exchange between service users and their community environment, grounded in the concepts of circular mutuality and micro-social contribution. This study aims to assess the feasibility and acceptability of CapExchange within a French overseas territory psychosocial rehabilitation service, and to inform a decision on progression to a definitive study. Secondary aims are to explore preliminary effects on well-being and self-perceived social contribution, and to document exchanges carried out during the programme. Methods This mixed-methods pilot feasibility study is conducted across three sites of the Psychosocial Rehabilitation Service, EPSM de la Guadeloupe: the Unité Passerelle (transitional inpatient rehabilitation unit), a day rehabilitation unit, and the UREPS (outpatient rehabilitation unit). Sessions are delivered in person in a minimum of two groups of 5 to 8 participants, targeting 10 to 15 adults across sites. The intervention comprises five weekly group sessions of 75 min. Primary outcomes are four feasibility indicators: recruitment, retention, and instrument completion rates are assessed via a traffic-light rule against pre-specified thresholds (recruitment ≥ 60%, retention ≥ 65%, completion ≥ 80%); the contribution-initiation rate is reported descriptively as an additional primary outcome. Secondary outcomes include a validated well-being measure and a published social-contribution subscale at three time points, alongside semi-structured interviews. Ethics Committee approval will be obtained prior to any participant enrolment. Discussion CapExchange proposes an original clinical operationalisation of the contributory dimension of recovery, a dimension that remains insufficiently explored in the existing literature. This pilot will generate preliminary data on recruitment, retention, acceptability, and instrument administration, documenting participants’ experience of social contribution and informing adjustments required before a larger-scale study. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT07620418. Prospectively registered on 27 May 2026.