Background: In primary care, social prescribing (SP) is where a patient is referred to a “link worker”, who considers their needs and then “prescribes” or connects them to appropriate community-based resources and...Background: In primary care, social prescribing (SP) is where a patient is referred to a “link worker”, who considers their needs and then “prescribes” or connects them to appropriate community-based resources and services. Recent policy and guidance in the UK has significantly expanded the provision of SP to improve patient health and wellbeing. Methods: This study conducted a systematic review of evidence for SP effectiveness and to report needs addressed, interventions provided, and behaviour change techniques employed. Inclusion criterion was patient referral from primary care to a SP link worker. Online databases were searched for studies published from February 2016 to July 2021. Searches were restricted to English language only. Risk of bias assessment and a narrative analysis were undertaken. Results: Eight studies were included. All studies reported some positive outcomes. There were weaknesses and limitations in study design and in reporting of results: a lack of comparative controls, short duration and single point follow-up, a lack of standardised assessments, missing data, and a failure to consider potential confounding factors. All studies had features which indicated a high risk of bias. Conclusion: Evidence for the value and positive impact of SP is accumulating, but evaluation design remains relatively weak. There is a need to improve evaluation through robust methodological design and the adoption of universal outcome measures and evaluation/analytical framework. SP should seek to assess patient wellbeing, self-management, and quality of lifeoutcomes systematically, and adopt behaviour change techniques to enable healthier lifestyles in the short and long term.展开更多
基金国家自然科学基金面上项目“基于高压人群身心健康的工作环境绿色空间体系研究”(编号51978364)国家自然科学基金青年科学基金项目“北京地区城市森林疗养空间特征识别及健康效益定量评价”(编号51908310)Tsinghua—Toyota Joint Research Institute Crossdiscipline Program共同资助。
文摘Background: In primary care, social prescribing (SP) is where a patient is referred to a “link worker”, who considers their needs and then “prescribes” or connects them to appropriate community-based resources and services. Recent policy and guidance in the UK has significantly expanded the provision of SP to improve patient health and wellbeing. Methods: This study conducted a systematic review of evidence for SP effectiveness and to report needs addressed, interventions provided, and behaviour change techniques employed. Inclusion criterion was patient referral from primary care to a SP link worker. Online databases were searched for studies published from February 2016 to July 2021. Searches were restricted to English language only. Risk of bias assessment and a narrative analysis were undertaken. Results: Eight studies were included. All studies reported some positive outcomes. There were weaknesses and limitations in study design and in reporting of results: a lack of comparative controls, short duration and single point follow-up, a lack of standardised assessments, missing data, and a failure to consider potential confounding factors. All studies had features which indicated a high risk of bias. Conclusion: Evidence for the value and positive impact of SP is accumulating, but evaluation design remains relatively weak. There is a need to improve evaluation through robust methodological design and the adoption of universal outcome measures and evaluation/analytical framework. SP should seek to assess patient wellbeing, self-management, and quality of lifeoutcomes systematically, and adopt behaviour change techniques to enable healthier lifestyles in the short and long term.
