scholarly journals Implementation process of social prescribing to improve primary care patients’ health and well-being

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (Supplement_4) ◽  
Author(s):  
S Dias ◽  
C Figueiredo ◽  
A Coelho ◽  
L Hoffmeister ◽  
A Gama
Keyword(s):  
Primary Care ◽  
Social Determinants Of Health ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Social Determinants ◽  
Implementation Process ◽  
Skills Training ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Determinants Of Health ◽  
Social Prescribing ◽  
Primary Care Patients

Abstract Social prescribing (SP) is an innovative approach to tackle social determinants of health. It enables general practitioners (GPs) to address non-medical causes of ill-health by linking primary care patients with non-medical community sources of support. Despite convincing results from punctual evaluations, comprehensive evaluation of SP is needed to provide guidance on what works and evidence on its impact. A SP pilot-project started in 2018 in a primary care service in Lisbon. Its implementation process and outcomes are being evaluated through a longitudinal mixed-method evaluation study assessing patients’ wellbeing, quality of life, anxiety and depression in key stages of the intervention and stakeholders’ perspectives on facilitators/barriers to the intervention implementation. GPs refer patients to a social worker of the service, who defines with the patient the individual intervention plan using community resources. Initially, GPs and social workers were trained on SP, a network of community partners was built, SP information was distributed to patients, a referral online platform was created and a baseline study is being conducted. In the 1st semester, 130 patients were referred: 39.2% were ≥65 years old, 70.8% were female, 45.4% had foreign nationality. Over two thirds were referred for multiple reasons mostly social isolation, immigration/social integration, mental health, sedentary lifestyle, access to social benefits and employment/skills training. The project has enabling to support patients with multiple complex psychosocial needs. Regular meetings between GPs and partners have improving collaboration and patients’ supervision. The participatory approach and training emerged as facilitators of the intervention. Yet, the increased burden on social workers due to growing referral profile and some stakeholders’ scepticism toward SP need to be addressed. The triangulation of sources, methods and data provide evidence on the intervention impact and scalability. Key messages The social prescribing intervention has been effective in tackling multiple social determinants of health. Intervention evaluation is being key to identify facilitators and opportunities for scale up.

scholarly journals Using an Ontology to Facilitate More Accurate Coding of Social Prescriptions Addressing Social Determinants of Health: Feasibility Study

10.2196/23721 ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (12) ◽  
pp. e23721
Author(s):  
Anant Jani ◽  
Harshana Liyanage ◽  
Cecilia Okusi ◽  
Julian Sherlock ◽  
Uy Hoang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Primary Care ◽  
Social Determinants Of Health ◽  
General Practitioners ◽  
Social Determinants ◽  
Royal College ◽  
Determinants Of Health ◽  
Social Prescribing ◽  
The Social ◽  
Care Practices ◽  
Primary Care Practices

Background National Health Service (NHS) England supports social prescribing in order to address social determinants of health, which account for approximately 80% of all health outcomes. Nevertheless, data on ongoing social prescribing activities are lacking. Although NHS England has attempted to overcome this problem by recommending 3 standardized primary care codes, these codes do not capture the social prescribing activity to a level of granularity that would allow for fair attribution of outcomes to social prescribing. Objective In this study, we explored whether an alternative approach to coding social prescribing activity, specifically through a social prescribing ontology, can be used to capture the social prescriptions used in primary care in greater detail. Methods The social prescribing ontology, implemented according to the Web Ontology Language, was designed to cover several key concepts encompassing social determinants of health. Readv2 and Clinical Terms Version 3 codes were identified using the NHS Terms Browser. The Royal College of General Practitioners Research Surveillance Centre, a sentinel network of over 1000 primary care practices across England covering a population of more than 4,000,000 registered patients, was used for data analyses for a defined period (ie, January 2011 to December 2019). Results In all, 668 codes capturing social prescriptions addressing different social determinants of health were identified for the social prescribing ontology. For the study period, social prescribing ontology codes were used 5,504,037 times by primary care practices of the Royal College of General Practitioners Research Surveillance Centre as compared to 29,606 instances of use of social prescribing codes, including NHS England’s recommended codes. Conclusions A social prescribing ontology provides a powerful alternative to the codes currently recommended by NHS England to capture detailed social prescribing activity in England. The more detailed information thus obtained will allow for explorations about whether outputs or outcomes of care delivery can be attributed to social prescriptions, which is essential for demonstrating the overall value that social prescribing can deliver to the NHS and health care systems.

scholarly journals Using an Ontology to Facilitate More Accurate Coding of Social Prescriptions Addressing Social Determinants of Health: Feasibility Study (Preprint)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anant Jani ◽  
Harshana Liyanage ◽  
Cecilia Okusi ◽  
Julian Sherlock ◽  
Uy Hoang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Primary Care ◽  
Social Determinants Of Health ◽  
General Practitioners ◽  
Social Determinants ◽  
Royal College ◽  
Determinants Of Health ◽  
Social Prescribing ◽  
The Social ◽  
Care Practices ◽  
Primary Care Practices

BACKGROUND National Health Service (NHS) England supports social prescribing in order to address social determinants of health, which account for approximately 80% of all health outcomes. Nevertheless, data on ongoing social prescribing activities are lacking. Although NHS England has attempted to overcome this problem by recommending 3 standardized primary care codes, these codes do not capture the social prescribing activity to a level of granularity that would allow for fair attribution of outcomes to social prescribing. OBJECTIVE In this study, we explored whether an alternative approach to coding social prescribing activity, specifically through a social prescribing ontology, can be used to capture the social prescriptions used in primary care in greater detail. METHODS The social prescribing ontology, implemented according to the Web Ontology Language, was designed to cover several key concepts encompassing social determinants of health. Readv2 and Clinical Terms Version 3 codes were identified using the NHS Terms Browser. The Royal College of General Practitioners Research Surveillance Centre, a sentinel network of over 1000 primary care practices across England covering a population of more than 4,000,000 registered patients, was used for data analyses for a defined period (ie, January 2011 to December 2019). RESULTS In all, 668 codes capturing social prescriptions addressing different social determinants of health were identified for the social prescribing ontology. For the study period, social prescribing ontology codes were used 5,504,037 times by primary care practices of the Royal College of General Practitioners Research Surveillance Centre as compared to 29,606 instances of use of social prescribing codes, including NHS England’s recommended codes. CONCLUSIONS A social prescribing ontology provides a powerful alternative to the codes currently recommended by NHS England to capture detailed social prescribing activity in England. The more detailed information thus obtained will allow for explorations about whether outputs or outcomes of care delivery can be attributed to social prescriptions, which is essential for demonstrating the overall value that social prescribing can deliver to the NHS and health care systems.

scholarly journals Social Workers: Continuing to Address the Social Determinants of Health

2016 ◽  
Vol 106 (6) ◽  
pp. e15-e15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa de Saxe Zerden ◽  
Anne Jones ◽  
Paul Lanier ◽  
Mark W. Fraser
Keyword(s):  
Social Determinants Of Health ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Social Determinants ◽  
Determinants Of Health ◽  
The Social

Training Community Residents to Address Social Determinants of Health in Underresourced Communities

2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 564-572
Author(s):  
Ashley Wennerstrom ◽  
Julia Silver ◽  
Miranda Pollock ◽  
Jeanette Gustat
Keyword(s):  
Social Determinants Of Health ◽  
Social Determinants ◽  
Public Health Problem ◽  
Skills Training ◽  
Community Change ◽  
City Council ◽  
Community Level ◽  
Determinants Of Health ◽  
Clinical Practices ◽  
Community Residents

Disparities in chronic disease and life expectancy remain a significant public health problem and are largely attributable to social determinants of health. Community health workers (CHWs) promote health equity through individual- and community-level activities, and leadership and advocacy skills training make CHWs more likely to catalyze structural change. CHWs are increasingly being integrated into clinical practices to support care management, creating a need for new grassroots community-level advocates. We adapted for community residents an existing CHW training curriculum focused on social determinants of health and effecting community change. We offered 36 hours of training at community-based locations in New Orleans, Louisiana. We assessed baseline civic and community participation and pre- and postknowledge for each lesson. Among 43 enrollees, 42 completed the program. The majority were Black (92.7%), female (92.7%), and retired or unemployed (77.5%), with a median age of 61.5 years. In the past year, 85% of participants had volunteered, 57.1% had been involved with a community organization, and 32.4% had contacted the city council. Participants demonstrated statistically significant increases in knowledge in 5 of 6 lessons. Our success in increasing knowledge of advocacy among a civically engaged group suggests that trainees may become community leaders in addressing social determinants of health.

scholarly journals How 6 Organizations Developed Tools and Processes for Social Determinants of Health Screening in Primary Care

2018 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 2-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kate LaForge ◽  
Rachel Gold ◽  
Erika Cottrell ◽  
Arwen E. Bunce ◽  
Michelle Proser ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Primary Care ◽  
Social Determinants Of Health ◽  
Social Determinants ◽  
Health Screening ◽  
Determinants Of Health
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