Social prescribing: a ‘natural’ community-based solution

Abstract

This paper discusses social prescribing as part of the wider NHS England universal personalised care model, and it describes how community nurses can engage with social prescribing systems to support community resilience. A case study based on the example of gardening, as a nature-based social prescription provided by the RHS Bridgewater Wellbeing Garden, is provided to illustrate the scope, reach and impact of non-medical, salutogenic approaches for community practitioners. The authors argue that social prescribing and, in particular, nature-based solutions, such as gardening, can be used as a non-medical asset-based approach by all health professionals working in the community as a way to promote health and wellbeing. They consider how the negative impact of social distancing resulting from COVID-19 restrictions could be diluted through collaboration between a holistic, social prescribing system and community staff. The paper presents a unique perspective on how community nurses can collaborate with link workers through social prescribing to help combat social isolation and anxiety and support resilience.

Is urban growing of fruit and vegetables associated with better diet quality and what mediates this relationship? Evidence from a cross-sectional survey.

“…This is partly consistent with previous literature, as health and sustainability motivations have been highlighted as reasons for taking part in UA (Al-Mayahi et al, 2019;Martinho da Silva et al, 2016;Ruggeri et al, 2016), and these motivations for food choices are associated with healthy eating attitudes (Sun, 2008). UA may also act as a potential health promotion intervention (Brown & Jameton, 2000;Genter et al, 2015;Howarth et al, 2020), and our findings suggest that specifically incorporating and targeting health and ethical-related food choice motivations within such interventions may facilitate UA's beneficial impact on diet quality Contrary to our hypothesis, greater perceived access to fruits and vegetables was associated with a poorer quality diet. This is surprising as others have shown that such access is associated with increased fruit and vegetable consumption (Caldwell et al, 2009).…”

“…In our exploratory analysis we saw that scores for engagement with UA, not proximity to UA, were associated with greater psychological distress (Tables S4, S6), which may support this. This would fit with recent suggestions that gardening could be beneficial treatment for poor well-being (Howarth et al, 2020).…”

“…The observed association between UA and greater psychological distress was unexpected and goes against a growing amount of evidence for beneficial effects of home growing and gardening on psychological wellbeing (Genter et al, 2015;Howarth et al, 2020). One tentative explanation is that, because these data are cross-sectional, we are unable to determine temporal relations between the variables, specifically whether participants in our sample who were already experiencing psychological distress may have turned to UA as a way of coping with distress.…”

Por que todo dia é o mesmo no isolamento social? Quando ocupar não é preencher, mas ressignificar

“…Isto contribui para que as ocupações não sejam apenas preenchidas, mas que gerem constantemente um repertório de significados para o indivíduo, baseando-se no universo que este se encontra e a volição das atividades que norteiam os desejos e as vontades da pessoa 24 25 . Howarth et al (2020) 26 identificou em seu estudo que a prescrição social de soluções baseadas na natureza que promovem a saúde e o bem-estar são cada vez mais incomuns nas rotinas das pessoas que estão em isolamento social e consequentemente tem acarretado nesses indivíduos ansiedade e a obrigatoriedade de ser resiliente 26 .…”

General practitioner management of mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic

“…18 Finally, 'social prescribing', where people are referred to non-clinical services, support groups and social structures, can be helpful for people experiencing mental health issues, chronic physical health conditions or social isolation. 20,21…”