Working in social prescribing services: a qualitative study

Amy Beardmore

21 citations0/0 files storedJournal of Health Organization and Management

No readable copy stored yet — this record is metadata only.

No open-access location is known for this record yet.

Literature note Cite in a project Citation map

Art Therapy and Mental Health Health Services Management and Policy Social Work Education and Practice

Abstract

PURPOSE: Social prescribing (SP) is an emerging area of public health that has the potential to alleviate pressure on primary care by offering non-clinical solutions to health problems. Whilst there is an increasing body of literature exploring service design and impact, there is little research that focuses specifically on the SP workforce. The purpose of this paper is to explore routes into SP, worker's experiences of the sector and potential career progression. DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH: For this qualitative study, semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight members of the SP workforce with varying levels of responsibility from within six different organisations in an urban/suburban area of South West England. Interviews were analysed using thematic analysis. FINDINGS: Pathways into the sector were varied, and those without direct experience often brought transferable skills from other professions. Careers in SP were clearly rewarding, and some providers had established good support structures for staff. However, some participants were in need of additional training in areas such as collaborative working and staff management. Staff working at a more senior level - particularly in community-based organisations - seemed less well supported overall, with limited career progression. Staff in such organisations also reported working beyond contractual hours. ORIGINALITY/VALUE: This study has revealed inconsistencies between the experiences of staff in some community organisations vs those associated with larger, more established services. It has also highlighted a need for further training and capacity building in some areas. These findings may be of interest to those commissioning or funding SP services in the future.

Paper brief

Loading…

Cite this work

Citation unavailable for this work.

BibTeX RIS CSL-JSON

No public copy is stored for this record, so only the metadata is cited.

Citations in this library

Citation map →

Stored only when both papers are in the corpus — 21 citations exist upstream.

References

2006Using thematic analysis in psychology 2017Social prescribing: less rhetoric and more reality. A systematic review of the evidence 2009Social prescribing in general practice: adding meaning to medicine 2015What is social prescribing?2008Can social prescribing provide the missing link?2015Exploring the components and impact of social prescribing 2013Developing a social prescribing approach for Bristol

Cited by

2024“She’s Been a Rock”: The Function and Importance of “Holding” by Social Prescribing Link Workers in Primary Care in England—Findings from a Realist Evaluation 2022Link workers, activities and target groups in social prescribing: a literature review 2023Impact of a social prescribing intervention in North East England on adults with type 2 diabetes: the SPRING_NE multimethod study 2025Australian and UK Perspectives on Social Prescribing Implementation Research: Theory, Measurement, Resourcing and Discovery to Ensure Health Equity 2025The Role of Social Prescribing Interventions in Addressing Health Inequalities in the United Kingdom: A Narrative Review

Explore the map →

Papers that cite the same references — the relational fallback while embeddings are still backfilling.

Imported from OpenAlex (CC0) — nothing here is generated.