Objectives
Social Prescribing has been developed in the UK and is regarded – also by the WHO – as a promising approach. It offers the possibility to focus the psychosocial needs and health of the population and to secure access to health promotion provisions for vulnerable groups. Austria is planning to implement Social Prescribing in relation with primary care strategies: In 2021, experiences with Social Prescribing in the context of primary care are collected to develop the expertise for a long-term implementation of this approach. queraum. cultural and social research has been commissioned by the the Gesundheit Österreich GmbH with an evaluation of main parts of the project "Preparation and implementation – Model regions Social Prescribing". The objectives of the evaluation are to
- learn from the implementation
- gain knowledge about
- how awareness of health-related, yet non-medical needs of patients may be raised
- in how far existing provisions cover the demand in the model regions
- which frameworks, prerequisites and supporting structures have to be strengthened
- the added value, benefits and effects of Social Prescribing and
- the supra-regional need for support by the link workers
- evaluate the trainings of link workers and network managers
Implementation
The project "Preparation and Implementation – Model regions Social Prescribing" is carried out at two levels: At the level of the model regions where Social Prescribing is implemented in the context of primary care and at the supra-regional level (project coordination, networking, link worker training). The evaluation is accordingly active at both levels. As learning from each other is the main interest and the evaluation aims at generalize the experiences gained in the project, a qualitative approach has been selected based on reflection workshops, an analysis of documentation and documents, focus groups, reflection talks (with ego-centered network maps) and semi-structured interviews.
