205 Summary and General discussion 7 formal and informal care institutes, who are provided time to exchange information with each other, inform other staff members, and indicate patients. Furthermore, clear agreements should be made between formal and informal care, regarding the sharing of patients’ privacy-sensitive information before enrollment as well as during the intervention, which naturally includes explicit consent of patients. For example, in our research project, we decided not to share information on patients’ criminal histories and psychiatric diagnoses, as this information was considered irrelevant for volunteers (or non-professionals) participating in a social network intervention and it could induce stigmatic thoughts and beliefs. Moreover, this non-disclosure of privacy-sensitive and medical information would allow patients to decide whether or not to discuss these issues with the volunteer. For formal care institutes specifically, the informal social network intervention should be included as an option in treatment plans and clinicians need to get time to discuss social network interventions with patients and to help patients make the connection with informal care (e.g., clinicians sometimes might need to assist in scheduling appointments and might need to escort patients to the first appointment with informal care). For informal care institutes, more time should be allowed for patient enrollment and it is important to have flexible procedures (e.g., providing time to develop a relationship between patients and volunteers and accepting the fact that patients sometimes do not show up for appointments or cancel at the last minute) (Burn et al., 2020; Priebe et al., 2020). Additionally, training and supervision of volunteers in forensic psychiatric care demands more time compared to usual volunteer services. Consistent with this the collaboration between formal care and informal care institutes has been repeatedly emphasized at the government policy level in recent years (Raad voor Strafrechtstoepassing en Jeugdbescherming, 2022; Raad voor Volksgezondheid en Samenleving, 2022). Based on our research, we agree that the provision of mental healthcare should be perceived as a “sociale kwestie” [social affair] (Bussemaker, 2019), in which citizens could actively participate to enhance treatment outcomes in forensic psychiatric patients with complex and chronic problems. However, it could be debated to what extent citizens in today’s society are equipped to actively participate in long-term volunteering interventions for non-kin vulnerable individuals, as they might be occupied with work due to a high-demanding labor market and with the increasing informal care responsibilities in their own family context. Consequently, citizens are likely to have less time available for other forms of informal care (Broese van Groenou & de Boer, 2016). Furthermore, stigmatic thought and beliefs towards people with psychiatric problems and criminal behavior could impede the supply of volunteers in forensic psychiatric care (Mezey et al., 2016). Therefore, government policy is recommended to encourage and
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