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Social prescribing during the COVID-19 pandemic: a qualitative study of service providers’ and clients’ experiences

Morris, Stephanie L.; Gibson, Kate; Wildman, Josephine M.; Griffith, Bethan; Moffatt, Suzanne; Pollard, Tessa M.

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Authors

Stephanie L. Morris

Kate Gibson

Josephine M. Wildman

Bethan Griffith

Suzanne Moffatt



Abstract

Background COVID-19 public health restrictions, such as social distancing and self-isolation, have been particularly challenging for vulnerable people with health conditions and/or complex social needs. Link worker social prescribing is widespread in the UK and elsewhere and is regarded as having the potential to provide support to vulnerable people during the pandemic. This qualitative study explores accounts of how an existing social prescribing service adapted to meet clients’ needs in the first wave of the pandemic, and of how clients experienced these changes. Methods Data were collected in a deprived urban area of North East England via remote interviews with clients (n = 44), link workers (n = 5) and service provider managerial staff (n = 8) from May–September 2020. Thematic data analysis was conducted. Results The research found that service providers quickly adapted to remote intervention delivery aiming to serve existing clients and other vulnerable groups. Service providers experienced improved access to some existing clients via telephone in the first months of remote delivery and in some cases were able to engage clients who had previously not attended appointments at GP surgeries. However, link workers also experienced challenges in building rapport with clients, engaging clients with the aims of the intervention and providing a service to digitally excluded people. Limited link worker capacity meant clients experienced variable contact with link workers with only some experiencing consistent support that was highly valued for helping to manage their conditions and mental wellbeing. Limited access to linked services also adversely affected clients. Clients living in less affluent circumstances and/or with worse health were more likely to experience negative impacts on their long-term condition. Some found their health and progress with social prescribing was ‘on hold’ or ‘going backwards’, which sometimes negatively affected their health. Conclusions Social prescribing offered valued support to some during the pandemic, but remote support sometimes had limited impact for clients and findings highlight the vulnerability of social prescribing’s success when linked services are disrupted. Findings also show the need for more to be done in the upscaling of social prescribing to provide support to digitally excluded populations.

Citation

Morris, S. L., Gibson, K., Wildman, J. M., Griffith, B., Moffatt, S., & Pollard, T. M. (2022). Social prescribing during the COVID-19 pandemic: a qualitative study of service providers’ and clients’ experiences. BMC Health Services Research, 22(1), Article 258. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-022-07616-z

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Feb 2, 2022
Online Publication Date Feb 25, 2022
Publication Date 2022
Deposit Date Mar 2, 2022
Publicly Available Date Mar 28, 2024
Journal BMC Health Services Research
Publisher BioMed Central
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 22
Issue 1
Article Number 258
DOI https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-022-07616-z

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Publisher Licence URL
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Copyright Statement
© The Author(s) 2022. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which
permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the
original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or
other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line
to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory
regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this
licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativeco
mmons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated in a credit line to the data.





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