Scaling Up Inspiring Ashfield: Extending Place-Based Social Prescribing Support Across Mid-Nottinghamshire
Lead Research Organisation:
Nottingham Trent University
Department Name: Sch of Social Sciences
Abstract
The expanding gap between the most and least deprived areas across the UK has led to increased health inequalities. Lack of money and resources at local community level contribute to poorer health among residents and increase their vulnerability to unforeseen challenges such as COVID-19. As a result, 'left behind' communities have borne the brunt of the pandemic and now need support to cope with their situation.
A key strategy aimed at challenging health inequalities is the NHS's Social Prescribing approach, whereby socially vulnerable individuals are connected to local community services or activities. This has been shown to reduce loneliness and improve health and wellbeing. However, the areas with the greatest need are often those with fewest resources and Social Prescribing is only as effective as the local activities available. In the wake of COVID-19, work is now required to revitalize local communities so that Social Prescribing can have its transformative effects.
One such initiative is Inspiring Ashfield, which coordinates a partnership of over 30 local arts, sports and community groups to produce a year-long calendar of activities for local residents. Partners work with different sections of the population to choose activities which meet their needs. These activities are then made available to Social Prescribers who can more effectively support their clientele.
Nottingham Trent University will work with Ashfield Voluntary Action to capture and transfer the successful elements of Inspiring Ashfield to two adjacent areas. Mansfield and Newark & Sherwood share many of the social and economic difficulties of Ashfield, but have their own unique challenges and resources. Inspiring Ashfield will be adapted to each area so that the new initiatives have a local focus while remaining true to the principles of the original. In addition, sharing resources across the three areas should enrich Social Prescribing for all residents.
The project will take four stages:
1) Gaining experience and insight from the Inspiring Ashfield initiative. NTU has already conducted interviews with those involved in the initiative and will additionally talk to under-represented groups and those who have declined or disengaged from activities. This will help understand what makes the programme work and what barriers there are to accessing it. These insights will then be packaged into a training programme.
2) Delivering the training package across each of the two new sites. AVA and NTU will deliver the training programme to stakeholders in the new areas. Talks and training sessions will cover: supporting place-based Social Prescribing; making sure it meets the needs of local residents; helping vulnerable individuals access activities and ensuring proper funding and monitoring.
3) Linking the initiative to local government and healthcare systems. NTU and AVA will work to gain support for the programme from local government at District and County level and from the Nottingham and Nottinghamshire NHS Integrated Care Partnership. The team will also connect Social Prescribing Linkworkers to various cultural resources such as libraries, museums and galleries to increase the range of activities for clients.
4) Supporting the roll out of the initiative. Once the training and support for the new initiatives are in place, NTU and AVA will work with local community organisations in Mansfield and Newark & Sherwood to help them set up their own programmes of Inspiring events. This will require engaging with local community residents to work out what activities they need and how Social Prescribing could benefit their lives.
We will share our results with government and NHS authorities so that they can implement the approach elsewhere. The ideal outcome of the project would be that people in the most vulnerable communities across the UK have a rich range of local activities to improve their health and restore their sense of belonging.
A key strategy aimed at challenging health inequalities is the NHS's Social Prescribing approach, whereby socially vulnerable individuals are connected to local community services or activities. This has been shown to reduce loneliness and improve health and wellbeing. However, the areas with the greatest need are often those with fewest resources and Social Prescribing is only as effective as the local activities available. In the wake of COVID-19, work is now required to revitalize local communities so that Social Prescribing can have its transformative effects.
One such initiative is Inspiring Ashfield, which coordinates a partnership of over 30 local arts, sports and community groups to produce a year-long calendar of activities for local residents. Partners work with different sections of the population to choose activities which meet their needs. These activities are then made available to Social Prescribers who can more effectively support their clientele.
Nottingham Trent University will work with Ashfield Voluntary Action to capture and transfer the successful elements of Inspiring Ashfield to two adjacent areas. Mansfield and Newark & Sherwood share many of the social and economic difficulties of Ashfield, but have their own unique challenges and resources. Inspiring Ashfield will be adapted to each area so that the new initiatives have a local focus while remaining true to the principles of the original. In addition, sharing resources across the three areas should enrich Social Prescribing for all residents.
The project will take four stages:
1) Gaining experience and insight from the Inspiring Ashfield initiative. NTU has already conducted interviews with those involved in the initiative and will additionally talk to under-represented groups and those who have declined or disengaged from activities. This will help understand what makes the programme work and what barriers there are to accessing it. These insights will then be packaged into a training programme.
2) Delivering the training package across each of the two new sites. AVA and NTU will deliver the training programme to stakeholders in the new areas. Talks and training sessions will cover: supporting place-based Social Prescribing; making sure it meets the needs of local residents; helping vulnerable individuals access activities and ensuring proper funding and monitoring.
3) Linking the initiative to local government and healthcare systems. NTU and AVA will work to gain support for the programme from local government at District and County level and from the Nottingham and Nottinghamshire NHS Integrated Care Partnership. The team will also connect Social Prescribing Linkworkers to various cultural resources such as libraries, museums and galleries to increase the range of activities for clients.
4) Supporting the roll out of the initiative. Once the training and support for the new initiatives are in place, NTU and AVA will work with local community organisations in Mansfield and Newark & Sherwood to help them set up their own programmes of Inspiring events. This will require engaging with local community residents to work out what activities they need and how Social Prescribing could benefit their lives.
We will share our results with government and NHS authorities so that they can implement the approach elsewhere. The ideal outcome of the project would be that people in the most vulnerable communities across the UK have a rich range of local activities to improve their health and restore their sense of belonging.
Publications
Charles S
(2023)
Diversity of Group Memberships Predicts Well-Being: Cross-Sectional and Longitudinal Evidence
in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin
Stevenson C
(2022)
INSPIRING ASHFIELD INITIATIVE: WORKSHOP BRIEFING REPORT
Stevenson, C
(2022)
Inspiring Ashfield Final Evaluation Full Report
| Description | Please note that this project has been granted an extension til 10th May 2023. Work is ongoing and the findings are still emerging. The project undertook an advanced multimethod evaluation of Ashfield Voluntary Action's (AVA) 'Inspiring Ashfield' approach to supporting Social Prescribing in the local district. It combined a state-of-the-art community survey with in-depth interviews and an observation of AVA's outreach programme. In doing so it captured the 'active ingredients' of the initiative as well as the barriers it has overcome (Objective 1- met). These findings were shared with CVS organisations through documented workshops (Objective 2- met) and currently forms the basis of the design of new Inspiring approaches in two new areas (Objective 4 - ongoing). The process of upscaling is being documented for other CVSs (Objective 5 - ongoing) and the results will be launched to an audience of stakeholders and funders in April 2023 (Objective 3 - ongoing). In terms of key findings, each method has captured unique insights: 1. Group activities benefit wellbeing; poverty and lack of awareness deter service engagement. Our survey of 388 residents of Ashfield identified high levels of loneliness and poor mental health in the local population alongside a variety of barriers to the uptake of social prescribing-related activities. These included low awareness of local community services, time depletion, financial hardship and social anxiety. Advanced analysis of the data revealed that when residents belonged to multiple different social groups and activities, they reported higher creativity, lower loneliness and better wellbeing (a finding replicated using nationally-representative survey data). This paper is currently under review with a high-impact social psychology journal. 2. Strong place identity can shape health and reduce financial stress. 44 interviews with AVA staff, project partners, link workers, group activity leads, beneficiaries and hard-to-reach residents revealed a range of different understandings of how local neighbourhood affects health, but also a shared understanding of the benefits of social connectedness for residents' resilience to social and economic challenges. This resonates with survey findings which suggest that that the health benefits of local community identity for residents lie in its ability to meet a range of different social and psychological needs, including reducing the stress of financial challenges. This paper is in preparation. 3. 'Inspiring' approaches can transform lives, if barriers to Social Prescribing are overcome. In terms of the Inspiring initiative itself, the appreciation of link workers for the support provided by the Inspiring Ashfield initiative was matched by the positive (often transformative) effects reported by beneficiaries. However, the legacy of COVID-19 poses a lasting barrier to service uptake with many participants reporting their fear of infection, high levels of anxiety and the poor social skills resulting from long periods of isolation as deterrents to engagement. AVA's response in diversifying their offer, providing assertive outreach to those beyond the reach of social prescribing and offering social scaffolding to enable clients to participate was exemplary practice. This paper is in preparation. These findings are of interest to a broad range of academic audiences including social, community, economic and health psychologists as well as in public health and social policy. |
| Exploitation Route | The utility of these findings lie in the combination of academic insight and practical utility. Theoretically, they improve understanding of the long-established relationship between place and health inequalities which has come to the fore during COVID-19. Demonstrating the links between community identification, group memberships, psychological wellbeing and health will inform those responsible for providing integrated health and community services to reduce health inequalities. Specifically this illustrates the core benefits of having a thriving third sector for the integration and wellbeing of local communities and the need to invest in those organisations and amenities that can provide these services. Practically, Social Prescribing was brought to a standstill during the pandemic and link workers across the UK still face substantial challenges in supporting their clients to engage in social prescribing and in availing of an appropriate local offer. Our work provides evidence as to how this can be done by illustrating a global approach (Inspiring Ashfield) based on specific modular steps (scoping, informing and connecting stakeholders and clients). Our findings effectively provide a blueprint for how Social Prescribers and CVSs elsewhere can overcome similar challenges. |
| Sectors | Communities and Social Services/Policy,Healthcare,Government, Democracy and Justice,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
| Description | *Please note that this project has been granted an extension til 10th May 2023.* The findings from the work have already informed the development of Ashfield Voluntary Action's provision. Our scoping study identified the prevalence and range of non-medical needs in their local community as well as identifying the key barriers to service uptake. On this basis, AVA are redeveloping their advertising and media presence, shaping their offer to meet local need and putting in place mechanisms to overcome barriers to participation (including altering timings, locations, costs and supports to increase the accessibility of their services). Relatedly, the findings from the evaluation of Inspiring Ashfield pertaining to effective service delivery have been presented to the advisory board of AVA and incorporated into their development plan for future service provision. The workshops delivered in phase two of the project reached the CVSs in Mansfield and Newark and Sherwood as well as a range of other local community organisations. These participants availed of workshops on service provision, evaluation skills and sustainable funding which were designed to help them recognise and overcome the challenges of delivering and capturing the effects of their services. Feedback from participants was positive with several reporting that they would incorporate the insights into their own practice and most committing to further engagement with the project. Academically, the research findings improve the understanding of the long-established relationship between place and health inequalities which has come to the fore during COVID-19. The novel combination of social psychology of group dynamics and the environmental psychology of place identity further contributes towards the emerging area of the Social Psychology of Health Equality being developed by the research team at NTU as well as contributing to their UoA4 Impact Case Study for the 2027 Research Excellence Framework. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2022 |
| Sector | Communities and Social Services/Policy |
| Impact Types | Societal,Policy & public services |
| Description | MSc studentship (fee waiver + UKRI-level stipend) for Ashfield Voluntary Action staff member |
| Amount | £23,809 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Nottingham Trent University |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 10/2022 |
| End | 09/2024 |
| Description | Mansfield and Ashfield Programme Management Board |
| Amount | £10,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Nottingham Trent University |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 01/2023 |
| End | 07/2023 |
| Description | PhD Scholarship award: Exploring How Individual Differences Affect the Social Cure Within the Context of Green Social Prescribing |
| Amount | £66,792 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Nottingham Trent University |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 10/2022 |
| End | 09/2025 |
| Title | Neighbourhood Needs-Satisfaction Scale (NNSS) |
| Description | We compiled an individual difference measure of the different psychological needs met by local neighbourhoods. The scale has robust psychometric properties and serves to mediate the predictive effect of neighbourhood identification on a range of outcomes including service access, financial managing, loneliness and wellbeing. |
| Type Of Material | Physiological assessment or outcome measure |
| Year Produced | 2022 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | This scale has considerable potential to capture the psychological benefits of neighbourhood identification in future research. Once published, the scale will be made publicly available. |
| Title | Ashfield Community Survey Data |
| Description | We conducted a local community survey of 388 Ashfield residents who answered a range of questions on their awareness, use and desire for local community services as well as their psychological wellbeing and social connectedness. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2022 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | The data has been analysed to provide AVA with guidance on local community need and service-use to develop their service provision. It also forms the basis of two academic publications (one under review and another in preparation). |
| Title | Inspiring Ashfield Interview Data |
| Description | This is a set of 44 interviews with AVA staff, project partners, activity leads, beneficiaries and hard-to-reach residents as well as documented conversations with link workers. The interviews pertain to participants own personal backgrounds, their awareness of and involvement in the Inspiring Ashfield initiative and their experiences and perceptions of its impacts on themselves and the local community. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2022 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | The dataset has underpinned the evaluation report presented to Ashfield Voluntary Action in strand one of th e current project. Analysis of the data also forms part of an academic paper in preparation. |
| Description | Phase Two Workshops (Oct/Nov 2022) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Third sector organisations |
| Results and Impact | Our series of six workshops engaged the CVS organisations in Mansfield and Newark & Sherwood as well as a range of other third sector organisations and NHS staff: Mansfield CVS Primary Integrated Community Services (PICS) Mid-Notts NHS Integrated Care Board (ICB) Ashfield Voluntary Action (AVA) Citizen's Advice The Dukeries Community Workshop Newark & Sherwood CVS Newark & Sherwood District Council Mid-Notts NHS Integrated Care Service (ICS) Mid-Notts Place Based Partnership Sherwood Forest Trust The workshops covered the evaluation findings as well as sessions on sustainable funding and evaluation methodology. As well as disseminating information, the sessions stimulated lively discussion among participants all of whom reported positive benefits from the sessions. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Presentation to Ashfield and Mansfield Programme Management Board (January 2023) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | The preliminary findings of the project were presented to NTU's Ashfield Mansfield Programme Management Board. The research group's Social Prescribing research forms a core part of the university's regional development programme and the board were interested in knowing how the project was developing. As a consequence, the Board granted the researchers £10k to upscale their research on this topic. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | Presentation to Midlands Social Prescribing Steering Group: Evaluation Task and Finish Group (August 2022) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Third sector organisations |
| Results and Impact | The Midlands Social Prescribing Steering Group runs a number of task and finish groups on different aspects of Social Prescribing. In the evaluation strand I presented an overview of the findings from the Upscaling Inspiring Ashfield project to the other contributors. This stimulated discussion on the findings and the techniques used in the process and requests for further information on the work. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Presentation to Tackling Loneliness Collaborative (June 2022) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Third sector organisations |
| Results and Impact | This presentation gave the Tackling Loneliness Collaboration (a collective of LGA, NHS and third sector organisations involved in overseeing and coordianting loneliness reduction services in Nottinshamshire) an overview of the main findings of the Inspiring Ashfield evaluation as part of a broader discussion on how to better coordinate health and community services to reduce health inequalities. As a result, participants requested to be involved in future research funding applications. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | TV interview for NottsTV (March 2022) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
| Results and Impact | This TV interview outlined the rationale for the AHRC project and its planned activities over the year. The interview centred on explaining the concept of Social Prescribing and the need to enable the third-sector to deliver these activities post-pandemic. Informal feedback from those watching the broadcast indicated that it had informative value. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://vimeo.com/694843060 |