Thesis

167 COVID-19 and social relationships 6 addition of a social network intervention. Three of the participants reported being imprisoned at the time of the research assessments during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study was approved by the Medical Ethics Committee of the Amsterdam University Medical Center (NL60308.029.17) and preregistered at the Netherlands Trial Register, part of the Dutch Cochrane Center (NTR7163). Data collection Forensic outpatients were recruited for participation in the RCT, after at least 3 months of treatment, if they were 16 years or older, diagnosed with a DSM-IV-TR/5 disorder and identified with limitations in the area of social network and social participation. Written informed consent was obtained from participants prior to baseline assessment. Assessments were conducted before randomization at baseline, and every 3 months after baseline up to 12 months (i.e., follow-up assessments). The last follow-up assessment was conducted 18 months after baseline. For this study we used data from the baseline assessment (between April 2018 and April 2021), as well as the first and second follow-up assessment of participants during the COVID-19 restrictions (between May 2020 and March 2021). Self-report questionnaires, assessed at baseline, were used to collect demographic characteristics, quality of social relationships, loneliness, and social support. Demographic characteristics such as ethnicity, age, gender, and daytime activities were gathered with a self-developed questionnaire. Quality of general social relationships, family relationships, and romantic relationships was measured with three items of the Manchester Short Assessment of Quality of Life (MANSA) on a 7-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (very dissatisfied) to 7 (very satisfied) (Priebe et al., 1999). The Loneliness scale (LS), consisting of a 11-item 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (no) to 5 (yes), was used to determine emotional and social loneliness (de Jong Gierveld & van Tilburg, 1999). Positive and negative social support was assessed with the Social Support Questionnaire (SSL-I), which consists of 41-items coded on a 5-point Likert-scale ranging from 1 (totally disagree) to 5 (totally agree) (van Sonderen, 2012). The psychometric properties of the MANSA, LS and SSL-I were good (de Jong Gierveld & van Tilburg, 2010; Priebe et al., 1999; van Sonderen, 2012). Furthermore, in response to the COVID-19 restrictions that had emerged during the RCT, researchers implemented a short self-developed Corona Questionnaire (CQ) to monitor the impact of the COVID-19 restrictions on social relationships. Four 7-point Likert-scale items, ranging from 1 (strong improvement) to 7 (strong deterioration), were used to

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