Report on some action research in the implementation of social prescription in Crawley. Paths to greater wellbeing: ‘sometimes you have to be in it to get it’

A Systematic Review to Examine the Evidence in Developing Social Prescribing Interventions That Apply a Co-Productive, Co-Designed Approach to Improve Well-Being Outcomes in a Community Setting

“…All studies [ 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 ] included SP intervention that led to an improvement in well-being outcomes within a community setting. The characteristics of the SP interventions, including the how the co-produced or co-designed approach was applied to each intervention are shown in Table 3 .…”

“…Other publications identified in the SR focused on wider community outcomes and/or their perspectives of co-produced co-designed SP interventions within community settings. Five studies were included under this theme which consisted of four case studies [ 32 , 33 , 34 , 37 ] and one mixed method survey [ 36 ]. All five studies were deemed of low quality on account of being observational studies.…”

“…All five studies were deemed of low quality on account of being observational studies. A moderate risk of bias was also assessed due to the risk of confounders [ 36 , 37 ], selection bias [ 33 , 36 , 37 ] and measurement bias [ 32 , 33 , 34 ] As within the previous theme, there is consistency in terms of the valuable outcomes and perspectives reported in each study which increases the credibility of the results.…”

“…The evidence demonstrates that participants greatly appreciated being listened to as they co-designed their social prescription with a support worker. This was reported as a positive change from being treated as passive users by healthcare professionals [ 33 , 34 ].…”

“…The evidence also suggests that the reciprocal relationships established between service users and service providers were particularly beneficial in creating positive well-being outcomes. Participants reported that being able to help others within a similar situation was rewarding and empowering as it led them to realize the strengths and weakness in themselves and others [ 33 , 34 ]. There was also evidence that sharing experiences and coping mechanisms motivated newer service users and gave them the hope that they could achieve the same positive well-being outcomes [ 37 ].…”