LIFE SP - Locality, Impact, Feedback, and Evaluation for Social Prescribing

Social prescribing is an approach to healthcare that recognises the influence of social, environmental, and personal factors on a person's well-being and health. It connects individuals with non-medical support services aimed at enhancing their overall quality of life. These include activities such as art workshops, music-making, dance classes, group exercise, cooking clubs, creative writing, gardening, nature walks, conservation projects, and other community engagement opportunities. These activities provide benefits such as social interaction (Chatterjee et al., 2018; Sumner et al., 2020), creative expression (Visanich & Attard, 2021; Collard-Stokes & Irons, 2022), personal growth (Redmond et al., 2019; Araki et al., 2022), and improved well-being (Brettle et al., 2020; Wakefield, et al., 2021). The project title 'Locality, Impact, Feedback, and Evaluation for Social Prescribing' captures the key areas to be explored, emphasising the need to understand the local context, measure impact, gather participant feedback, and evaluate efficacy. While social prescribing has been practiced for many years, its formal recognition by the NHS and inclusion in their national strategy has highlighted the need for new evaluation methods (NHS, 2020). This project aims to address this by developing new approaches to collect, analyse and share person-centred data that more accurately reflect the diverse ways in which social prescribing impacts people's lives.

To achieve this, the project brings together researchers, healthcare providers, community volunteers, and service users from the UK and Singapore (where the P-I and Co-I are based), as well as other countries that have implemented social prescribing into their healthcare systems. Led by the P-I and Co-I, this group will develop and trial new evaluation techniques. Engagement in these collaborative activities will also create the necessary conditions to establish an international research network that will further consolidate the sharing, development, and application of these methods. The international composition of this group will enable its members to explore variations in the implementation and delivery of social prescribing programmes across nations and regions. By studying these variations, the project aims to uncover insights into contextual and cultural factors that influence the success, availability, and impact of social prescribing. Through collaboration, researchers and practitioners will learn from each other, adapt successful practices to local contexts, and collectively enhance the global understanding of social prescribing's effectiveness and how that can be demonstrated.

The central principles underpinning this project are to promote interdisciplinary and cross-cultural dialogue, foster understanding through direct engagement, and facilitate the trans-global exchange of knowledge regarding social prescribing practices and their evaluation. As such, in addition conducting a series of on-line meetings, the P-I and Co-I will run in-person workshops with network members and other interested parties. The purpose of these will be to interrogate existing evaluation models, share alternatives, and generate new ideas. Field trips also play a crucial role in this project as they provide invaluable opportunities for the P-I and Co-I to actively interact with local communities, healthcare professionals, and policymakers. Through these visits, they can acquire insights and understanding of the intricacies and obstacles involved in implementing social prescribing that would not be apparent through remote methods. Furthermore, field trips offer the chance to identify and exchange best practices, thereby maximising the potential for collaboration and knowledge-sharing. Ultimately, this project seeks to foster international collaboration and cross-cultural dialogue in order to enhance the global understanding of how social prescribing can improve well-being and quality of life.