Once is rarely enough: can social prescribing facilitate adherence to non-clinical community and voluntary sector health services? Empirical evidence from Germany.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Non-clinical health interventions provided by the voluntary and community sector can improve patients' health and well-being and reduce pressure on primary and secondary care, but only if patients adhere to them. This study provides novel insights into the impact of doctor referrals to such services, known as social prescribing, on patients' adherence to them.

Methods

Using a negative binomial model, we analysed electronic visitor records from a community health advice and navigation service in Germany between January 2018 and December 2019 to determine whether social prescribing was associated with greater adherence to the service (measured in terms of return visits) compared to patients who self-referred. We also explored whether this effect differed according t

SUBMITTER: Golubinski V 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7706247 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature