ArticleBMC family practice2021
Social prescribing for people with complex needs: a realist evaluation.
Article in BMC family practice, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 25 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
25 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 47 citations in OpenAlex.
- The effectiveness of social prescribing in the management of long-term conditions in community-based adults: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Clinical rehabilitation · 2024Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Do people perceive benefits in the use of social prescribing to address loneliness and/or social isolation? A qualitative meta-synthesis of the literature.BMC health services research · 2022Pooled it
- What is 'Spiritual Health'? A Survey of Social Prescribers in the United Kingdom.Journal of religion and health · 2026Article
- A qualitative investigation of stakeholders' perceptions of social prescribing for families with infants through the lens of a creative play on prescription programme for 0-2-year-olds and their carers.Public health in practice (Oxford, England) · 2026Article
- Perspectives of stakeholders in Danish voluntary sports clubs on engaging in potential social prescribing programmes: a qualitative case study.BMC primary care · 2026Article
- Financial well-being advice delivered within the context of social prescribing in the UK and the Republic of Ireland.Frontiers in public health · 2026Review
- Developing a program theory for implementing a Danish social prescribing model: an ethnographic study.Frontiers in health services · 2026Article
- Building and evaluating a social prescribing program for carer-employees: an intervention study.Frontiers in health services · 2026Article
- Prerequisites for social prescribing in Swedish primary care - stakeholders' perspectives.Scandinavian journal of primary health care · 2025Article
- Social prescribing in primary care for people living with dementia: a qualitative exploration of different roles and services in England.BMC primary care · 2025Article
- 'This is the core of what we do': a qualitative study of social prescribers' attitudes towards spiritual health training and their future training needs.BMC primary care · 2025Article
- How to improve support for people with (complex) multiple-problems through social prescribing in a vulnerable neighborhood; professionals', experts-by-experience' and clients' perspectives.BMC primary care · 2025Article
- Social prescribing for socially isolated older adults in rural Japan: a qualitative case study.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
- Understanding how intermediaries connect adults to community-based physical activity: A qualitative study.PloS one · 2025Article
- Implement social prescribing successfully towards embedding: what works, for whom and in which context? A rapid realist review.BMC public health · 2024Review
- Theories used to develop or evaluate social prescribing in studies: a scoping review.BMC health services research · 2024Article
- Confronting polypharmacy and social isolation in elderly care: a general practitioner's perspective on holistic primary care.Frontiers in aging · 2024Article
- Speaking the same language - a scoping review to identify the terminology associated with social prescribing.Primary health care research & development · 2023Article
- Models of social prescribing to address non-medical needs in adults: a scoping review.BMC health services research · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundSocial Prescribing is increasingly popular, and several evaluations have shown positive results. However, Social Prescribing is an umbrella term that covers many different interventions. We aimed to test, develop and refine a programme theory explaining the underlying mechanisms operating in Social Prescribing to better enhance its effectiveness by allowing it to be targeted to those who will benefit most, when they will benefit most.
methodsWe conducted a realist evaluation of a large Social Prescribing organisation in the North of England. Thirty-five interviews were conducted with stakeholders (clients attending Social Prescribing, Social Prescribing staff and general practice staff). Through an iterative process of analysis, a series of context-mechanism-outcome configurations were developed, refined and retested at a workshop of 15 stakeholders. The initial programme theory was refined, retested and 'applied' to wider theory.
resultsSocial Prescribing in this organisation was found to be only superficially similar to collaborative care. A complex web of contexts, mechanisms and outcomes for its clients are described. Key elements influencing outcomes described by stakeholders included social isolation and wider determinants of health; poor interagency communication for people with multiple needs. Successful Social Prescribing requires a non-stigmatising environment and person-centred care, and shares many features described by the asset-based theory of Salutogenesis.
conclusionsThe Social Prescribing model studied is holistic and person-centred and as such enables those with a weak sense of coherence to strengthen this, access resistance resources, and move in a health promoting or salutogenic direction.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.