A controlled evaluation of social prescribing on loneliness for adults in Queensland: 8-week outcomes.
Front Psychol
; 15: 1359855, 2024.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-38680281
ABSTRACT
Introduction:
There have been few controlled evaluations of Social Prescribing (SP), in which link workers support lonely individuals to engage with community-based social activities. This study reports early outcomes of a trial comparing General Practitioner treatment-as-usual (TAU) with TAU combined with Social Prescribing (SP) in adults experiencing loneliness in Queensland.Methods:
Participants were 114 individuals who were non-randomly assigned to one of two conditions (SP, n = 63; TAU, n = 51) and assessed at baseline and 8 weeks, on primary outcomes (loneliness, well-being, health service use in past 2 months) and secondary outcomes (social anxiety, psychological distress, social trust).Results:
Retention was high (79.4%) in the SP condition. Time × condition interaction effects were found for loneliness and social trust, with improvement observed only in SP participants over the 8-week period. SP participants reported significant improvement on all other outcomes with small-to-moderate effect sizes (ULS-8 loneliness, wellbeing, psychological distress, social anxiety). However, interaction effects did not reach significance.Discussion:
Social prescribing effects were small to moderate at the 8-week follow up. Group-based activities are available in communities across Australia, however, further research using well-matched control samples and longer-term follow ups are required to provide robust evidence to support a wider roll out.
Texto completo:
1
Coleções:
01-internacional
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Front Psychol
Ano de publicação:
2024
Tipo de documento:
Article
País de afiliação:
Austrália