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A controlled evaluation of social prescribing on loneliness for adults in Queensland: 8-week outcomes.
- Source :
- Frontiers in Psychology; 2024, p1-10, 10p
- Publication Year :
- 2024
-
Abstract
- Introduction: There have been few controlled evaluations of Social Prescribing (SP), in which link workers support lonely individuals to engage with communitybased 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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Subjects :
- LONELINESS
SOCIAL anxiety
PSYCHOLOGICAL distress
ADULTS
TRUST
GENERAL practitioners
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 16641078
- Database :
- Complementary Index
- Journal :
- Frontiers in Psychology
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 176892479
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1359855