Trial reportThe British journal of psychiatry : the journal of mental science2020
Effectiveness of a volunteer befriending programme for patients with schizophrenia: randomised controlled trial.
Trial report in The British journal of psychiatry : the journal of mental science, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 32 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
32 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Social Functioning Interventions in Psychosis: A Systematic Review.Clinical psychology & psychotherapyPooled it
- Learning How to Improve the Treatment of Persecutory Delusions: Using a Principal Trajectories Analysis to Examine Differential Effects of Two Psychological Interventions (Feeling Safe, Befriending) in Distinct Groups of Patients.Schizophrenia bulletin · 2026Trial
- BEATVIC, a body-oriented resilience therapy for individuals with psychosis: Short term results of a multi-center RCT.PloS one · 2022Trial
- 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
- Experiences and outcomes of group volunteer befriending with patients with severe mental illness: an exploratory mixed-methods study in Colombia.BMC psychiatry · 2021Trial
- Effects of social support interventions on social, physical and mental health outcomes: a scoping review.BMJ public health · 2026Article
- Effects of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Worry Versus Befriending Therapy in Individuals with Persecutory Delusions: A Randomized Trial.Schizophrenia bulletin open · 2026Article
- Conceptualisation and operationalisation of social support in health interventions: a scoping review.BMJ public health · 2026Article
- Making people meet: volunteers' contributions to social connection for the well-being of self and others.International journal of qualitative studies on health and well-being · 2025Article
- Is befriending a possible intervention in people living with schizophrenia?Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Article
- Exploring factors associated with company employee involvement in physical activities with older psychiatric outpatients: a qualitative study.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Article
- Article
- Family Club Denmark: A Quasi-Randomized Study of a Volunteer-Based Intervention to Support Vulnerable Families.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Contributions of a time use perspective in community mental health practice: a scoping review.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2024Article
- A Phone Pal to overcome social isolation in patients with psychosis-Findings from a feasibility trial.PLOS digital health · 2024Article
- Patients' and volunteer coaches' experiences with an informal social network intervention in forensic psychiatric care: a qualitative analysis.BMC psychiatry · 2023Article
- Is befriending a valuable intervention in schizophrenia? A scoping review.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2023Article
- The effectiveness of an additive informal social network intervention for forensic psychiatric outpatients: results of a randomized controlled trial.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2023Article
- Neighbourhood characteristics and social isolation of people with psychosis: a multi-site cross-sectional study.Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology · 2022Article
- Interventions to improve social circumstances of people with mental health conditions: a rapid evidence synthesis.BMC psychiatry · 2022Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundBefriending by volunteers has the potential to reduce the frequent social isolation of patients with schizophrenia and thus improve health outcomes. However, trial-based evidence for its effectiveness is limited.
aimsTo conduct a randomised controlled trial of befriending for patients with schizophrenia or related disorders.
methodPatients were randomised to a befriending programme for 1 year or to receive information about social activities only (trial registration: ISRCTN14021839). Outcomes were assessed masked to allocation at the end of the programme; at 12 months and at a 6-month follow-up. The primary outcome was daily time spent in activities (using the Time Use Survey (TUS)) with intention-to-treat analysis.
resultsA total of 124 patients were randomised (63 intervention, 61 active control) and 92 (74%) were followed up at 1 year. In the intervention group, 49 (78%) met a volunteer at least once and 31 (49%) had more than 12 meetings. At 1 year, mean TUS scores were more than three times higher in both groups with no significant difference between them (adjusted difference 8.9, 95% CI -40.7 to 58.5, P = 0.72). There were no significant differences in quality of life, symptoms or self-esteem. However, patients in the intervention group had significantly more social contacts than those in the control group at the end of the 12-month period. This difference held true at the follow-up 6 months later.
conclusionsAlthough no difference was found on the primary outcome, the findings suggest that befriending may have a lasting effect on increasing social contacts. It may be used more widely to reduce the social isolation of patients with schizophrenia.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.