Prescribing physical activity, gardening, or dance classes to improve patients’ health is the aim of the Social Prescription Network Portugal, which was launched today by the National School of Public Health.
Social prescribing seeks to respond to the social, emotional and daily needs of healthcare users, connecting them to the resources available in the community, through individualized responses adapted to the specific needs of each person.
“Portugal, despite being one of the countries with the highest life expectancy in Europe, is at the top of the list of those with the fewest years of healthy life and all the challenges we have at present, but also ahead of us, with ageing, the increase in chronic diseases, the increase in mental health needs, social isolation and loneliness have been advocating the need for a strong commitment to health promotion and disease prevention,” the director of the National School of Public Health at Universidade Nova de Lisboa (ENSP-Nova), Sónia Dias, told Lusa.
The solution to these challenges, which are largely determined by social, economic and environmental factors, must be promoted in a systemic way, integrating the social and health sectors.
“We know more and more that social determinants are having a huge impact on people’s state of health and the need to integrate health and social care, but in reality (…) we still have a long way to go,” he said.
According to the researcher, social prescribing, a movement that was born in the UK, stems from “a real need” on the part of health professionals, “when they are confronted with issues of emotional, social and day-to-day needs in people’s lives that have an impact on their health”.
Often, professionals feel that the clinical responses available to them are not enough to respond in a more preventive way, he said.
The answers could be physical activity, gardening, taking part in cultural activities such as dance classes, theater groups, music, or going to the theater or museums, for example.
“There is a very large set of community activities and resources that can benefit these populations in some way,” especially those who experience greater vulnerabilities.
There are already projects being developed in different regions of the country with positive impacts for users, such as reducing isolation, anxiety and other mental health needs, improving quality of life and well-being.
But also with impacts for the health system – a reduction in the number of consultations in primary health care, emergency episodes and hospitalizations – and for society – greater proximity between the health, social and cultural sectors, facilitating access to community resources, strengthening the sense of belonging and social and territorial cohesion.
Since 2018, the researchers have been working with the teams on the ground and began to realize that there was a great commitment to boosting the expansion of social prescription in the country.
“We started organizing the network in 2023 and it already has a number of partners and different sectors of society that are coming together to boost this movement and also so that we can ultimately contribute to greater health gains, the sustainability of the health system and healthier and more inclusive communities,” said Sónia Dias.
The Social Prescription Portugal Network includes researchers, multidisciplinary professionals, citizens, managers and policy makers, and aims to “strengthen social prescription intervention, build broad institutional partnerships and implement pilot projects and good practices”.
The first Social Prescription manual will also be released today.
