This project is managed through Fraser Health and will be implemented across multiple BC health regions.
Social prescribing (SP) is an emerging model of integrated, person-centred care that helps older adults access non-medical supports such as social supports, meal programs, and transportation by building referral pathways between health care and community services. In British Columbia (BC), SP has rapidly expanded through government investment in partnership with United Way of British Columbia (UWBC). Implementation has primarily focused on community integration, with less emphasis on integration within health authorities, except in the Fraser Health region, where the UWBC program is most fully developed due to the intentional partnership at inception. The present proposal builds on this success by leveraging learnings from the Fraser Health region for an SP province-wide scale-up and evaluation. We will examine how implementation is unfolding across each of BC’s health regions and how the model is adapted to meet local needs. We will identify barriers and enablers to success and explore how the behaviours and experiences of clinicians, community connectors (navigators), older adults, and caregivers influence program delivery and uptake. Finally, we will chart the key predictors of intervention and referral pathway effectiveness.
Keywords: Seniors Care, Aging, Community Health, Health Promotion, Social Determinants of Health
Team members:
- Grace Park (Primary Applicant Co-Lead)
- Chen-Mei Margaret Lin (Applicant Co-Lead)
- Francis Moon (Executive Sponsor)
- Kiffer Card (Evaluation Co-Lead)
- Margaret Lin
- Eli Puterman
- Shannon Freeman
- Stuart MacDonald
- Jennifer Jakobi
- Maureen Ashe
- Saskia Wald
- Bobbi Symes
- Prabhraj Sandhu
- Indira Riadi
- Gillian McCutcheon
- Tim Rowe
- Paul Adams
- Chris Therriault-Finke
- Mona Hazel
- Cheney Cloke
- Sunhitha Velamala
- Taelor Lay
- Shannon Parsons
- Vikas Sethi