Advancing the evidence base for child and youth social prescribing

In the summer, we convened a group of international researchers and academics working on children and young people’s social prescribing*. During the insightful roundtable, we discussed the current evidence base, the challenges and opportunities of conducting research in this space, and the critical considerations for future research. In this blog we share our learning – read along to find out more.  

* Social prescribing is an approach addressing social needs arising from the social determinants of health, linking people with non-medical forms of support within their community (e.g. arts, sports and volunteering). 

The evidence base 

Our conversation with researchers from the UK, Canada and Portugal affirmed that while there is good evidence from the broader social prescribing literature, evidence for the population in question is limited, particularly for marginalised youth (e.g. under 15-year-olds and LGBTQ+ youth).

We therefore need to expand the evidence base, including studies using a diverse range of methodological approaches, to build up a holistic understanding of why and how social prescribing works for children and young people, and to convince policy- and decision-makers that it is a worthwhile investment.

Challenges and opportunities for research 

Researchers we spoke to highlighted three main challenges they’re facing.  

1. While they are measuring the number of social prescribing sessions, their length and content, they currently lack validated measures that capture the quality of the social prescribing encounters. This is a key aspect of social prescribing that could determine whether the intervention is effective, so developing tools to measure it could greatly improve insights. 
2. Researchers are still untangling the mechanisms of action by which social prescribing leads to improved outcomes. We do not yet fully understand how social prescribing for children and young people works – future research could aim to address this knowledge gap.  
3. Those working in this space are experiencing difficulties with demonstrating the value of preventative interventions to various stakeholders, including funders and policy-makers. With the comparator often being inaction, it can be difficult to convey the value of such interventions. The growing health economics/SROI work could help address this.

Youth voice and measuring impact 

Echoing insights from our conversations with other stakeholders, researchers and academics emphasised the need to involve young people throughout the research design and implementation process. Young people should be involved not just in shaping their activity plans during social prescribing sessions, but also in determining how their experiences of social prescribing are measured and evaluated.  

Furthermore, roundtable participants favoured going beyond classic research methods, like questionnaires and interviews, and adopting novel research approaches to measure impact. Examples included photovoice, biological data, observational studies and large population management datasets. Embracing diverse approaches could strengthen the evidence base, which could in turn help secure greater buy-in from decision-makers.

Critical considerations  

Throughout the roundtable, we discussed some of the key considerations for researchers and academics when designing new studies and conducting research. Below are some suggestions that could help advance the evidence base for children and young people’s social prescribing, and help deliver high quality services:

• Include families in research to capture the broader impact of social prescribing, not only on children and young people but also on their families and communities.
• Investigate how to optimise the social prescribing pathway, while helping to ensure that the workforce, particularly link workers, is well-resourced and supported. 
• Create a safe space for children and young people when conducting research, so that they feel listened to and are comfortable providing honest feedback.  
• Cultivate closer working relationships with policy-makers and commissioners to identify measures and types of evidence that will help them make the case for children and young people’s social prescribing. 

Next steps 

This discussion was organised as part of the roundtable series ‘Understanding best practice for child and youth social prescribing’, hosted by the Social Prescribing Youth Network (SPYN), based at our research group. You can find resources from our previous roundtable that brought together policy-makers and commissioners here.

In our next steps for this project, we are convening young people and third sector organisations to hear their complementary perspectives — we will share further details in the coming weeks. Ultimately, at the end of this roundtable series we will be summarising and showcasing emerging best practice for youth social prescribing. If you aren’t already then you can subscribe to the SPYN newsletter to hear updates!