None listed
Conditions
Brief summary
Social prescribing is a holistic approach to healthcare that connects individuals with community resources and activities to address the social determinants of health, such as loneliness, isolation, and inactivity. The QLD Social Prescribing Trial is a first of its kind roll out of social prescribing through neighbourhood and community centres in 10 sites across QLD, funded by the Department of Communities under the Putting QLD Kids First initiative. The scope for inclusion is expectant mothers and parents/carers of children aged 0-18 years, and the children and young people aged 2-18 years experiencing loneliness and social isolation. These NC centres have been funded to engage social prescribing link workers, who will identify unique opportunities and pathways to enhance local families and young people’s quality of life by addressing their social needs. Over two years, we aim to conduct a comprehensive evaluation of this statewide social prescribing trial in Queensland. The objective is to evaluate the implementation process, track progress of families / individuals, and the overall success, sustainability, and scalability of the trial after implementation, with a focus on outcomes and economic analysis (cost / Quality of Life Years)
Interventions
Link worker social prescribing (e.g. Dingle et al., 2022), which involves referring a family, child or young person (FCYP) with identified social needs from self, education, health or community sector professionals to a link worker based in a community center who will screen the family or young person's loneliness, social interests, and barriers to community integration. They will work together to find a suitable community social activity to match the FCYP's interests. Four common types of activ
Link worker social prescribing (e.g. Dingle et al., 2022), which involves referring a family, child or young person (FCYP) with identified social needs from self, education, health or community sector professionals to a link worker based in a community center who will screen the family or young person's loneliness, social interests, and barriers to community integration. They will work together to find a suitable community social activity to match the FCYP's interests. Four common types of activities are physical activity (e.g. family joins the weekly 5km parkrun at their local park), arts and culture (e.g. child and parent attend weekly music sessions at their community centre), nature based (e.g. families sign up for monthly fishing outings with borrowed equipment and an instructor on hand), and educational / skills training groups (e.g. English conversation classes for CALD parents and children). The link worker may also refer clients on to health or social services to meet needs beyond the scope of social prescribing. Contact with the link worker may occur face to face in the community centre or by phone or internet, as suitable. There is no restriction to the number of contacts or time spent with the link worker, and the duration of the active intervention is 12-weeks,
Sponsors
The University of QLD
Study design
Allocation
Non-randomised trial
Intervention model
Single group
Primary purpose
Treatment
Masking
Open (masking not used)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Age
2 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
Inclusion criteria are expecting mothers, parents/carers, or child /young person aged 2 to 18 years, who are experiencing loneliness and social isolation. Adults must be able to provide consent for themselves and their dependent, while children under 18 years of age must provide verbal assent to participate in the research.
Exclusion criteria
Exclusion criteria are that the FYP do not screen positive for loneliness and social isolation and/or they are not interested in joining a community based social activity.
Outcome results
None listed