ArticleBMC psychiatry2018
Preferences for befriending schemes: a survey of patients with severe mental illness.
Article in BMC psychiatry, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers.
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Who cites it
10 citing papers in PubMed.
- The effectiveness of volunteer befriending for improving the quality of life of patients with schizophrenia in Bosnia and Herzegovina - an exploratory randomised controlled trial.Epidemiology and psychiatric sciences · 2021Trial
- Effectiveness of a volunteer befriending programme for patients with schizophrenia: randomised controlled trial.The British journal of psychiatry : the journal of mental science · 2020Trial
- Resource-oriented interventions for patients with severe mental illnesses in low- and middle-income countries: trials in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Colombia and Uganda.BMC psychiatry · 2019Trial
- Common patient experiences across three resource-oriented interventions for severe mental illness: a qualitative study in low-resource settings.BMC psychiatry · 2022Article
- Development of a comprehensive inventory of community participation for individuals with psychiatric disabilities.Psychiatric rehabilitation journal · 2021Article
- VolunteeringFrontiers in psychiatry · 2021Article
- Patient and befriender experiences of participating in a befriending programme for adults with psychosis: a qualitative study.BMC psychiatry · 2020Article
- Factorial structure of the Manchester Short Assessment of Quality of Life in patients with schizophrenia-spectrum disorders.Quality of life research : an international journal of quality of life aspects of treatment, care and rehabilitation · 2020Article
- Motivations and experiences of volunteers and patients in mental health befriending: a thematic analysis.BMC psychiatry · 2019Article
- How would patients with psychosis like to be in contact with a volunteer: Face-to-face or digitally?PloS one · 2019Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundBefriending has become a widely used method for tackling social isolation in individuals with severe mental illness (SMI), and evidence exists to support its effectiveness. However, patient preferences for befriending remain unclear. We aimed to determine whether patients with SMI want a volunteer befriender and, if so, the volunteer characteristics and character of the relationship they would prefer.
methodsA survey of outpatients was conducted across London-based community mental health teams, for individuals diagnosed with affective or psychotic disorders. Questions consisted of measures of demographic characteristics, befriending preferences and social context, including measures of time spent in activities, number of social contacts, loneliness and subjective quality of life (SQOL). Binary logistic regressions were used to investigate potential predictors of willingness to participate in befriending.
resultsThe sample comprised of 201 participants with a mean age of 43 years. The majority (58%) of the sample indicated willingness to participate in befriending. In univariable analyses this was associated with less time spent in activities in the previous week, higher level of loneliness and lower SQOL. When all three variables were tested as predictors in a multivariable analysis, only lower SQOL remained significantly associated with willingness to take part in befriending. Relative to other options presented, large proportions of participants indicated preference for weekly (44%), 1-hour (39%) meetings with a befriender, with no limits on the relationship duration (53%). Otherwise, patient preferences exhibited great variability in relation to other characteristics of befriending schemes.
conclusionsA substantial number of patients with SMI appear willing to take part in a befriending scheme. Patients with lower SQOL are more likely to accept befriending, so that befriending schemes may be a realistic option to help patients with particularly low SQOL. The large variability in preferences for different types of befriending suggests that there is no one-size-fits-all formula and that schemes may have to be flexible and accommodate different individual preferences.
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