Social prescribing interventions to reduce barriers to social engagement in rheumatic and musculoskeletal disorders (SPARK)

Rheumatic and musculoskeletal disorders (RMDs) — conditions like arthritis — make it harder for people to take part in social activities, which can affect both physical health and mental wellbeing. People with RMDs have told us this is an area where they need more support.

Our previous work has identified specific things that get in the way of socialising for people with RMDs — for example, fatigue, low confidence, and low mood. These are called "barriers" to social engagement. At the moment, they're rarely discussed in medical appointments, so they often go unaddressed.

"Social prescribing" — connecting people to activities and support in their community — could help. These programmes aim to support mental wellbeing, physical health, and social connection. But we don't yet know enough about whether, or how, they could help people with RMDs overcome the specific barriers they face.

The overall aim of this study is to examine whether and how existing social prescribing interventions could address barriers to social engagement for people with RMDs. We’d like to use this research to ultimately support the development of a targeted social prescribing pathway for this clinical population.

To do this the study has three key objectives:

1. To identify and describe the key content, functions, and framing of social prescribing interventions for long-term conditions, including RMDs, within NHS Grampian and in the literature;
2. To map interventions within NHS Grampian, and of those identified within the wider literature, to a behavioural framework of barriers and facilitators of social engagement;
3. To understand the acceptability of referral to social prescribing interventions for addressing specific barriers to social engagement, within NHS Grampian

Aim 1: Identifying and describing social prescribing interventions

We will carry out a scoping review of social prescribing interventions for people with RMDs and other long-term conditions across the UK, searching the published research literature to understand what types of programmes exist and who they are aimed at. Alongside this, we will identify and describe the social prescribing interventions already available within NHS Grampian using ALISS, a national database of community resources.

Together, these two strands will provide a detailed picture of the types of social prescribing interventions that could potentially support people with RMDs.

Aim 2: Mapping interventions to barriers and facilitators of social engagement

Using an established framework for understanding barriers to social engagement in RMDs, we will examine the interventions identified in Aim 1 to determine which barriers to social engagement they have the potential to address. For example, an intervention that supports mental wellbeing may help someone whose low mood is affecting their motivation to socialise, while an intervention focused on building practical skills or confidence may help someone who lacks the capability to engage socially as they'd like. This mapping exercise will help us understand which existing programmes could meaningfully support people with RMDs, and may also identify current gaps, for instance, interventions that could help with social engagement barriers but to which people with RMDs are not currently being referred.

Aim 3: Testing acceptability with patients and professionals

We will hold workshops with around 15 to 20 people living with RMDs and around 15 to 20 healthcare and community professionals. In these workshops, we will share what we have found so far and explore how people with RMDs would feel about being referred to these types of programmes, what additional information or support might help, and what healthcare professionals would need to know to discuss social prescribing confidently with their patients. This step ensures that any future referral pathway is genuinely useful and acceptable to the people who would use it.

This study will give a clear picture of which social prescribing programmes could help people with RMDs stay socially connected, thereby improving their overall wellbeing. For patients, this is a step towards improving care that addresses needs that aren’t often met in clinical settings. The findings will lay the groundwork for a future study to develop clear pathways between secondary care and community support, helping more people with RMDs to live well with their condition.

We will be looking for people with RMDs who are based in Grampian to take part in the final workshop.

If you are interested in participating in the final workshop, please contact Dr LaKrista Morton at lakrista.morton@abdn.ac.uk

• Chief Investigator: Dr LaKrista Morton
• Co-investigators: Alison Maciver, Professor Gary Macfarlane, Dr Rosemary Hollick, Dr Cara Ghiglieri (Queens University Belfast), Dr Jillian Evans (NHS Grampian)

• Tel: +44 (0) 1224 437863
• Email: lakrista.morton@abdn.ac.uk