Social support appears to be important in improving outcomes for incarcerated individuals during the reentry process not only in terms of general wellbeing but also in gaining employment and avoiding recidivism. Mentoring programs have become increasingly popular interventions that are intended to provide such support during reentry. However, research on mentoring programs is limited and tends to focus solely on the programs’ impact on recidivism, a distal outcome. Through the use of semi-structured, in-depth interviews, this qualitative study focuses on more proximal outcomes, exploring how reentering individuals who are receiving volunteer mentoring through a transitional housing program define successful reentry and perceive the value of different types of support they received from their mentors. Participants identified several indicators of successful reentry and discussed the types of support that were helpful, harmful, or absent. Implications for practice and areas for future research are discussed.

社会支持似乎对于改善被监禁人员在重返社会过程中的结果很重要，不仅在总体福祉方面，而且在获得就业和避免再犯方面也很重要。指导计划已成为越来越受欢迎的干预措施，旨在在重返社会期间提供此类支持。然而，对指导计划的研究是有限的，而且往往只关注计划对累犯的影响，这是一种远期结果。通过使用半结构化、深入的访谈，这项定性研究侧重于更近端的结果，探索通过过渡性住房计划接受志愿者指导的重新进入个人如何定义成功重新进入并感知他们获得的不同类型支持的价值来自他们的导师。参与者确定了成功重返社会的几个指标，并讨论了有帮助、有害或缺乏的支持类型。讨论了对实践的影响和未来研究的领域。