This study would not have been possible without the support, advice and substantial contributions of the two befriending services (The Befriending Scheme and Outward) that agreed to provide the befriending intervention. We would also like to thank the volunteers and participants with ID who participated in the study, and the clinicians at the North East London NHS Foundation Trust (NELFT) who assisted with recruitment. We are grateful for the support from staff at the Priment Clinical Trials Unit who provided advice on the study protocol, developed the study database and randomisation procedure, and monitored the study, and to Ms Yazz Davies from the Oxford Gig Buddies scheme and her volunteers who provided PPI input. We would also like to thank Professor Mike Crawford (chairperson of the Trial Steering Committee) and the other members of the Trial Steering Committee for their helpful advice throughout the study.
Contributions of authors
Afia Ali (https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0104-9370) (Associate Professor in Intellectual Disability Psychiatry) was the chief investigator and led the drafting of the final report. She is accountable for the integrity and accuracy of the report.
Emma Mckenzie (https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5213-2561) (Study Research Assistant) was involved in collecting the data and analysing the qualitative data. She contributed to the writing of the final report, particularly Chapter 4.
Zara Rasoul (https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9453-7906) (Honorary Research Assistant) was involved in analysing the qualitative data. She contributed to the writing of the final report, particularly Chapter 4.
Angela Hassiotis (https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9800-3909) (Professor of Intellectual Disability Psychiatry) made substantial contributions to the conceptualisation and design of the study, and contributed to the writing of the final report.
Stefan Priebe (https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9864-3394) (Professor of Social and Community Psychiatry) made substantial contributions to the conceptualisation and design of the study, and contributed to the writing of the final report.
Brynmor Lloyd-Evans (https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9866-788X) (Associate Professor in Mental Health and Social Care) made substantial contributions to the conceptualisation and design of the study, and contributed to the writing of the final report.
Rebecca Jones (https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6924-0924) (Clinical Research Fellow) analysed the results and contributed to the writing of the final report, particularly Chapters 3 and 5.
Monica Panca (https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4031-6478) (Research Associate) analysed the health economics data and contributed to the writing of the final report, particularly Chapter 3.
Rumana Omar (https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1483-1932) (Professor of Medical Statistics) was the lead statistician and supervised the statistical analysis of the results (Chapter 3).
Sally Finning (https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9934-7669) (Manager, Outward befriending service) made substantial contributions to the conceptualisation and design of the study and had oversight of the implementation of the intervention at the study site.
Shirley Moore (https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9658-7808) (Chief Executive of The Befriending Scheme) made substantial contributions to the conceptualisation and design of the study, and had oversight of the implementation of the intervention at the study site.
Christine Roe (https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6719-3279) (Volunteer Co-ordinator, The Befriending Scheme) facilitated the implementation of the intervention at the study site.
Michael King (https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4715-7171) (Professor of Primary Care Psychiatry and Trial Methodologist for Priment Clinical Trials Unit) made substantial contributions to the conceptualisation and design of the study, and contributed to the writing of the final report, particularly Chapter 5.
Publications
Ali A, Mckenzie E, Hassiotis A, Priebe S, Lloyd-Evans B, Omar R, et al. One-to-one befriending for people with intellectual disability and symptoms of depression: protocol for a pilot randomised controlled trial. BMJ Open 2020;10:e033989.
Tse CY, Mckenzie E, Hassiotis A, Ali, A. A survey of befriending services for people with intellectual disabilities in the United Kingdom [published online ahead of print 8 July 2021]. J Policy Pract Intellect Dis 2021.
Ali A, McKenzie E, Hassiotis A, Priebe S, Lloyd-Evans B, Jones R, et al. A pilot randomised controlled trial of befriending by volunteers in people with intellectual disability and depressive symptoms [published online ahead of print 27 September 2021]. J Intellect Dis Res 2021.
Data-sharing statement
The data are available upon request. Please contact the corresponding author.
Patient data
This work uses data provided by patients and collected by the NHS as part of their care and support. Using patient data is vital to improve health and care for everyone. There is huge potential to make better use of information from people’s patient records, to understand more about disease, develop new treatments, monitor safety, and plan NHS services. Patient data should be kept safe and secure, to protect everyone’s privacy, and it’s important that there are safeguards to make sure that it is stored and used responsibly. Everyone should be able to find out about how patient data are used. #datasaveslives You can find out more about the background to this citation here: https://understandingpatientdata.org.uk/data-citation.
Disclaimers
This report presents independent research funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR). The views and opinions expressed by authors in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the NHS, the NIHR, NETSCC, the PHR programme or the Department of Health and Social Care. If there are verbatim quotations included in this publication the views and opinions expressed by the interviewees are those of the interviewees and do not necessarily reflect those of the authors, those of the NHS, the NIHR, NETSCC, the PHR programme or the Department of Health and Social Care.