TY - JOUR
AU - D. R. Y. Gan
AU - V. Welch
AU - P. Hébert
AU - M. Nelson
AU - K. Mulligan
AU - A. S. Hoverman
AU - S. Allison
AU - G. Park
AU - K. G. Card
A1 - 
AB - BACKGROUND: Addressing the complex health and wellbeing challenges of older adults is a critical public health priority as populations age. Social Prescribing (SP) represents a promising strategy, connecting patients to non-clinical, community-based resources to enhance physical, mental, and social wellbeing. METHODS: To develop a SP theory of change, this study used cross-sectional data from 2,450 community-dwelling older adults who participated in a population survey. Factor analyses identified four factors of comfort with primary care discussions (general, mental, physical, and social wellness) and three factors of openness to SP (effectiveness, meaningfulness, and supportiveness). Path analysis was conducted for each set of mediators separately. RESULTS: Path analyses revealed that comfort with primary care discussions about social wellness (β = 0.08**) is associated with better wellbeing. People who report social loneliness are most comfortable with primary care discussions about general wellness (β = - 0.17***) and least comfortable with primary care discussions about mental wellness (β = - 0.24***), whereas people who report emotional loneliness are more likely to have similar levels of comfort to discuss general wellness and mental wellness (β = - 0.18***; - 0.18***). In addition, social loneliness is associated with less comfort with primary care discussions about social wellness (β = - 0.19***) and mental wellness (β = - 0.19***), whereas association is not found for emotional loneliness. These suggest that addressing the SP needs of people who experience emotional loneliness requires a different strategy. Reporting emotional loneliness is associated with expressing support for SP (β = 0.14***), which may be key to improving wellbeing (β = 0.10***) among this population. Overall, social loneliness has a total effect size of β(total) = - 0.19, whereas emotional loneliness has a total effect size of β(total) = - 0.45, more than 2.3 times larger. CONCLUSIONS: While SP may be acceptable to those who need it, some may experience greater difficulties accessing SP through primary care providers without interventions tailored to their loneliness status that could elicit buy-in and enrolment. Primary care providers may wish to pay closer attention to people with emotional loneliness. Other considerations, such as trust and motivational interviewing for positive self-beliefs may explain potential changes from loneliness to wellbeing.
AD - Faculty of Health Sciences, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, Canada.; Ministry of Health, Government of British Columbia, Victoria, Canada.; Bruyère Health Research Institute, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada.; Centre Hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal, Montreal, Canada.; Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada.; Canadian Institute for Social Prescribing, Canadian Red Cross, Toronto, Canada.; Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.; School of Public Health, University of Washington, Seattle, USA.; Canadian Alliance for Social Connection and Health, Victoria, Canada.; Pacific Regional Centre for Healthy Aging, Surrey, Canada.; Frasaer Health Authority, Surrey, Canada.; Faculty of Health Sciences, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, Canada. kcard@sfu.ca.; Canadian Alliance for Social Connection and Health, Victoria, Canada. kcard@sfu.ca.
AN - 41315965
BT - BMC Prim Care
C5 - Healthcare Disparities
CP - 1
DA - Nov 28
DO - 10.1186/s12875-025-03067-7
DP - NLM
ET - 20251128
IS - 1
JF - BMC Prim Care
LA - eng
N2 - BACKGROUND: Addressing the complex health and wellbeing challenges of older adults is a critical public health priority as populations age. Social Prescribing (SP) represents a promising strategy, connecting patients to non-clinical, community-based resources to enhance physical, mental, and social wellbeing. METHODS: To develop a SP theory of change, this study used cross-sectional data from 2,450 community-dwelling older adults who participated in a population survey. Factor analyses identified four factors of comfort with primary care discussions (general, mental, physical, and social wellness) and three factors of openness to SP (effectiveness, meaningfulness, and supportiveness). Path analysis was conducted for each set of mediators separately. RESULTS: Path analyses revealed that comfort with primary care discussions about social wellness (β = 0.08**) is associated with better wellbeing. People who report social loneliness are most comfortable with primary care discussions about general wellness (β = - 0.17***) and least comfortable with primary care discussions about mental wellness (β = - 0.24***), whereas people who report emotional loneliness are more likely to have similar levels of comfort to discuss general wellness and mental wellness (β = - 0.18***; - 0.18***). In addition, social loneliness is associated with less comfort with primary care discussions about social wellness (β = - 0.19***) and mental wellness (β = - 0.19***), whereas association is not found for emotional loneliness. These suggest that addressing the SP needs of people who experience emotional loneliness requires a different strategy. Reporting emotional loneliness is associated with expressing support for SP (β = 0.14***), which may be key to improving wellbeing (β = 0.10***) among this population. Overall, social loneliness has a total effect size of β(total) = - 0.19, whereas emotional loneliness has a total effect size of β(total) = - 0.45, more than 2.3 times larger. CONCLUSIONS: While SP may be acceptable to those who need it, some may experience greater difficulties accessing SP through primary care providers without interventions tailored to their loneliness status that could elicit buy-in and enrolment. Primary care providers may wish to pay closer attention to people with emotional loneliness. Other considerations, such as trust and motivational interviewing for positive self-beliefs may explain potential changes from loneliness to wellbeing.
PY - 2025
SN - 2731-4553
SP - 382
ST - Analysing comfort with primary care discussions and openness to social prescribing as mediators of the associations between loneliness and wellbeing among Canadians aged 55 and older
T1 - Analysing comfort with primary care discussions and openness to social prescribing as mediators of the associations between loneliness and wellbeing among Canadians aged 55 and older
T2 - BMC Prim Care
TI - Analysing comfort with primary care discussions and openness to social prescribing as mediators of the associations between loneliness and wellbeing among Canadians aged 55 and older
U1 - Healthcare Disparities
U3 - 10.1186/s12875-025-03067-7
VL - 26
VO - 2731-4553
Y1 - 2025
ER -