Social Prescribing in Primary Care across Europe

Nataša Mrduljaš-Đujić, Ferdinando Petrazzuoli, Jean Pierre Jacquet, Jane Randall-Smith, Juan Manuel Mendive, Katerina Javorská, Wolfram Herrmann, Joyce Kenkre, Miriam Dolan, Joanne Robins, Donata Kurpas, Patrick Ouvrard, Sinah Afra Noemi Evers, Thomas Kloppe

Keywords: social prescribing; community-based programmes; link worker; non-pharmacological care; referral to social services; social determinants of health;

Background:

Social Prescribing (SP) means referring patients in primary care to social activities within their community that could improve their health and well-being, often addressing isolation and loneliness.
SP programmes are being widely promoted in the UK. Aldough they are now being increasingly adopted all over Europe, their formats differ, and depend on health care system and facilities in the country/region.
Our previous study on SP confirmed that there is a need to clarify more to health professionals what is social prescribing dealing with. Therefore, this proposed study aims to map across Europe established SP programmes, how they are organized and implemented within healthcare systems. This will assist in establishing a clear definition of “social prescribing” for Europe and greater understanding within communities.

Research questions:

What constitutes social prescribing activities in European Primary Care?

Method:

In this qualitative, multi-country study the steering group will develop an open-ended questionnaire. The first draft of the questionnaire will be based on the research objectives, the results of our preliminary study on the topic and an extensive literature review. Subsequently, a panel of Primary Health Care experts and methodology experts will use a Delphi process to evaluate the validity of the items, the length of the questionnaire, formulate suggested changes, and identify missing items. The research team will then discuss all feedback until consensus will be reached, and a final version of the questionnaire will be developed.
The national coordinator will deliver the questionnaire to European key informants primary care personnel actively involved in Social Prescribing. The outcome of the questionnaire will be translated in English and validated via a back translation.

Results:

Conclusions:

Points for discussion:

Is Social Prescribing popular in your country?

Are you aware of organisations or group with similar objectives in your country?

Are any audience participants willing to be partners in this study and also join the WESIG on Social prescribing and community orientation?