Implementing social prescribing in a rural Ottawa community: collaboration between a community resource centre and a family health organization.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to describe a social prescribing pilot intervention that was delivered in a rural community and its impact on the health, well-being and healthcare utilization of clients. Design/methodology/approach: A 10-month social prescribing pilot intervention was implemen...

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Publicado en:Journal of Integrated Care Vol. 34; no. 1; pp. 44 - 58
Autores principales: McGarity-Shipley, Ellen, Timmins, Erin, Lorusso, Angela, Nelson, Andrea, Poloz, Jessica
Formato: research tables/charts Journal Article
Publicado: Emerald Publishing Limited 2026
Acceso en línea:Ver este registro en EBSCOhost
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      issn: 14769018
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      dt: 2026
      vid: 34
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      pub: Emerald Publishing Limited
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        atl: Implementing social prescribing in a rural Ottawa community: collaboration between a community resource centre and a family health organization.
      aug:
        au:
          McGarity-Shipley, Ellen
          Timmins, Erin
          Lorusso, Angela
          Nelson, Andrea
          Poloz, Jessica
        affil: Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada
      sug:
        subj:
          Implementation Science
          Rural Population Canada
          Interinstitutional Relations
          Collaboration
          Family Health Organizations
          Community Health Centers Canada
          Social Participation Evaluation
          Health Resource Utilization Evaluation
          Mental Health
          Support, Psychosocial
          Psychological Well-Being Evaluation
          Human
          Male
          Female
          Adult
          Middle Age
          Aged
          Canada
          Loneliness Prevention and Control
          Emergency Service
          Needs Assessment
          Counseling
          Referral and Consultation
          Quality Improvement
          Financial Stress
          Crisis Intervention
          Inferential Statistics
          Emotions
          Financing, Government
          Personnel Staffing and Scheduling
          Qualitative Studies
          Interviews
          Sociodemographic Factors
          Workflow
          Funding Source
          Socioeconomic Factors
          Scales
          Paramedicine
          Descriptive Statistics
          Data Analysis Software
          Adult: 19-44 years
          Middle Aged: 45-64 years
          Aged: 65+ years
          Male
          Female
      ab: Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to describe a social prescribing pilot intervention that was delivered in a rural community and its impact on the health, well-being and healthcare utilization of clients. Design/methodology/approach: A 10-month social prescribing pilot intervention was implemented in a family health organization which involved embedding a social prescribing link worker from a local community resource centre into the clinic to provide mental health and community resource navigation support to clients. A service evaluation was performed to measure the impact of the programme on client health, well-being and healthcare utilization. Findings: There was a 43% improvement in well-being and a 23% improvement in loneliness for the small subset of participants who provided outcome measures at their first and third visits (n = 3). Hospital, emergency department and emergency medical services (paramedic) use decreased over the course of the programme for the 16 participants who completed discharge questions on healthcare utilization, while family doctor visits increased overall. Practical implications: These findings support the integration of social prescribing into primary care practice through collaboration between community and healthcare organizations to potentially improve client well-being and healthcare utilization. However, these findings were based on a small number of participants who provided outcome measure data after the initial visit. Originality/value: This study presents a unique model for a social prescribing intervention in a rural setting that strengthens collaboration between healthcare and community organizations and is outside of the community health centre model of care.
      pubtype: Academic Journal
      doctype:
        research
        tables/charts
        Journal Article
      ougenre: Article
    language: English
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