97 Patients’ and volunteers’ experiences with a social network intervention 4 conceptualized in various ways on a continuum (Thompson et al., 2016). On the one hand, dyads can have a more natural friendship relationship, in which the relationship is not limited by regulations, non-directive, and primarily focused on developing a social relationship (i.e., relationship-oriented approach). On the other hand, dyads can have a more professional relationship, in which dyads are focused on achieving and monitoring goals (i.e., goal-oriented approach) (Mead et al., 2010; Thompson et al., 2016). Thus, different befriending interventions can be focused to a greater or lesser extent on these types of befriending relationships. Previous systematic reviews and meta-analyses revealed that befriending with a relationship-oriented approach, compared to standard care or no treatment, decreased depressive symptoms and improved general patient-reported outcomes in various patient populations (Mead et al., 2010; Siette et al., 2017). It should be noted that these studies included non-psychiatric populations of patients with both physical and mental health problems (e.g., depressed individuals, isolated elderly, and individuals with cancer). Moreover, there are no studies which examined the effects of the relationship-oriented befriending in forensic psychiatric populations. The effects of befriending interventions with a more goal-oriented approach, often referred to as (volunteer) mentoring interventions, on delinquency have been studied extensively, mostly in youth populations. A meta-analysis found modest effects of mentoring interventions for youth at risk for delinquency on drug use, delinquency, and aggression (Tolan, Henry, Schoeny, Lovegrove, & Nichols, 2014). Additionally, some studies showed decreased criminal recidivism rates in adult offender populations receiving volunteer mentoring interventions (Duwe, 2013; Duwe&King, 2013). However, these results relate to at-risk youth and offender populations, respectively, both of which include individuals with and without psychiatric disorders. Therefore, results are difficult to generalize to (adult) forensic psychiatric populations. In sum, research on befriending interventions in forensic psychiatric populations is limited and results are hard to compare given the differences in interventions, outcomes, and populations studied. Moreover, to date, there are no qualitative studies that have explored how forensic psychiatric patients and volunteers respond to the intervention. Therefore, a better understanding of the experiences of befriending in mental healthcare for the specific forensic psychiatric population is warranted. This study aimed to fill the gap in literature on the experiences with an informal social network intervention, based on a befriending intervention, for forensic psychiatric outpatients. The informal social network intervention, provided by trained volunteer coaches from an informal care institute, was added to treatment as usual (TAU) of forensic
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