National Institute for Health Research Applied Research Collaboration (NIHR ARC-NWC), Division of Health Research, Faculty of Health and Medicine, Lancaster University, Lancaster LA1 4AT, UK.
Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences, University of Oxford, Woodstock Road, Oxford, OX2 6HT, UK.
J Public Health (Oxf). 2024 Aug 25;46(3):458-462. doi: 10.1093/pubmed/fdae105.
Social prescribing is often described as an intervention that can help reduce health inequalities yet there is little evidence exploring this. This study aimed to assess the feasibility of accessing and analysing social prescribing (SP) service user data to demonstrate the impact of SP on health inequalities.
The sample size consisted of records for 276 individuals in Site 1 and 1644 in Site 2. Descriptive analyses were performed to assess the characteristics of people accessing SP, the consistency of data collected and the missingness across both sites.
Both sites collected basic demographic data (age gender, ethnicity and deprivation). However, data collection was inconsistent; issues included poor recording of ethnicity in Site 2, and for both sites, referral source data and health and well-being outcome measures were missing. There was limited data on the wider determinants of health. These data gaps mean that impacts on health inequalities could not be fully explored.
It is essential that SP data collection includes information on user demographics and the wider determinants of health in line with PROGRESS Plus factors. Considering equity around who is accessing SP, how they access it and the outcomes is essential to evidencing how SP affects health inequalities and ensuring equitable service delivery.
社会处方通常被描述为一种可以帮助减少健康不平等的干预措施，但几乎没有证据对此进行探讨。本研究旨在评估获取和分析社会处方（SP）服务用户数据的可行性，以展示 SP 对健康不平等的影响。
样本量包括 Site1 的 276 名患者和 Site2 的 1644 名患者的记录。进行描述性分析，以评估接受 SP 的人群的特征、两个地点收集数据的一致性以及数据缺失情况。
两个地点都收集了基本的人口统计学数据（年龄、性别、种族和贫困程度）。但是，数据收集不一致；问题包括 Site2 中种族记录不佳，以及两个地点的转诊来源数据和健康和福祉结果测量数据缺失。关于健康的更广泛决定因素的数据有限。这些数据差距意味着无法充分探讨对健康不平等的影响。
社会处方数据收集必须包括用户人口统计学信息和与 PROGRESS Plus 因素一致的健康更广泛决定因素的信息。考虑到谁在接受 SP、他们如何接受 SP 以及结果的公平性，对于证明 SP 如何影响健康不平等以及确保公平的服务提供至关重要。
