109 Patients’ and volunteers’ experiences with a social network intervention 4 "He understood it and he also found it annoying that […] he was so confused, he often hadn't kept his schedule properly so he had to work or he was going somewhere with his parents. It often seemed to happen to him, there were, no bad intentions in it I think, [it] was just a little difficult for him to schedule his appointments." – coach 026. Furthermore, there were several participants who mentioned that FNC got interrupted by a long stay abroad, admissions to a mental health institute, or imprisonment. Finally, some patients and coaches started with FNC during the COVID-19 pandemic, which prevented them from participating in a wider range of social activities. Theme 2: developing social bonds “Showing up is often a very big part of success” – coach 028 Both patients who were matched (i.e., low and high compliance group) and coaches discussed a variety of perspectives related to the development of social bonds in FNC. In general, many patients and coaches indicated that they got along well – experienced a match. Furthermore, patients who did not start with FNC (i.e., no compliance group) also described important characteristic of coaches that could positively affect the development of a bond. Three subthemes characterizing social bonds and the development of social bonds between patients and coaches are outlined: (1) continuity, (2) honesty and reciprocity, and (3) similarities and equality. Continuity Patients and coaches revealed that in many cases little face-to-face contact had been established between them. Contact could be interrupted, or ended after a short period of time. This was usually done by patients (Theme 1), although there were also a few cases in which coaches could not continue coaching due to other obligations or life changes. Besides, if a contact or bond between a dyad was established, contact could still be challenging. In some cases, for a period of time, patient-coach dyads only had contact by phone, often viaWhatsApp, or met irregularly. It could be difficult to arrange appointments, as patientswere hard to reach, or didnot have constant access to a telephone. Furthermore, appointments were often cancelled or forgotten by patients. "No I just had [to remind] him, that wasn't hard for me, but it was more like I have to do it, and I have to keep doing that for a whole year, and sometimes […] his cell phone was lost again or something else. And then I had to go there, and then I had to check if someone has his number. There were just little complications that kept getting in the way. Or sometimes
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