ObjectivesThis study aimed to assess the degree to which the ‘social cure’ model of psychosocial health captures the understandings and experiences of healthcare staff and patients in a social prescribing (SP) pathway and the degree to which these psychosocial processes predict the effect of the pathway on healthcare usage.DesignMixed-methods: Study 1: semistructured interviews; study 2: longitudinal survey.SettingAn English SP pathway delivered between 2017 and 2019.ParticipantsStudy 1: general practitioners (GPs) (n=7), healthcare providers (n=9) and service users (n=19). Study 2: 630 patients engaging with SP pathway at a 4-month follow-up after initial referral assessment.InterventionChronically ill patients experiencing loneliness referred onto SP pathway and meeting with a health coach and/or link worker, with possible further referral to existing or newly created relevant third-sector groups.Main outcome measureStudy 1: health providers and users’ qualitative perspectives on the experience of the pathway and social determinants of health. Study 2: patients’ primary care usage.ResultsHealthcare providers recognised the importance of social factors in determining patient well-being, and reason for presentation at primary care. They viewed SP as a potentially effective solution to such problems. Patients valued the different social relationships they created through the SP pathway, including those with link workers, groups and community. Group memberships quantitatively predicted primary care usage, and this was mediated by increases in community belonging and reduced loneliness.ConclusionsMethodological triangulation offers robust conclusions that ‘social cure’ processes explain the efficacy of SP, which can reduce primary care usage through increasing social connectedness (group membership and community belonging) and reducing loneliness. Recommendations for integrating social cure processes into SP initiatives are discussed.
Resilient, cohesive communities are important contributors to the health and well-being of their residents (Ehsan, Klaas, Bastianen, & Spini, 2019). Advances in social psychology suggest a multitude of physical and mental health outcomes derive from meaningful belonging in social groups within a range of contexts (Haslam,
Communities are vital sources of support during crisis, providing collective contexts for shared identity and solidarity that predict supportive, prosocial responses. The COVID-19 pandemic has presented a global health crisis capable of exerting a heavy toll on the mental health of community members while inducing unwelcome levels of social disconnection. Simultaneously, lockdown restrictions have forced vulnerable community members to depend upon the support of fellow residents.Fortunately, voluntary helping can be beneficial to the wellbeing of the helper as well as the recipient, offering beneficial collective solutions. Using insights from social identity approaches to volunteering and disaster responses, this study explored whether the opportunity to engage in helping fellow community members may be both unifying and beneficial for those engaging in coordinated community helping. Survey data collected in the UK during June 2020 showed that coordinated community helping predicted the psychological bonding of community members by building a sense of community identification and unity during the pandemic, which predicted
A substantial literature supports the important role that social group memberships play in enhancing health. While the processes through which group memberships constitute a "Social Cure" are becoming increasingly well defined, the mechanisms through which these groups contribute to vulnerability and act as a "Social Curse" are less understood.We present an overview of the Social Cure literature and then go beyond this to show how the processes underpinning the health benefits of group membership can also negatively affect individuals through their absence. First, we provide an overview of early Social Cure research. We then describe later research concerning the potential health benefits of identifying with multiple groups, before moving on to consider the "darker side" of the Social Cure by exploring how intra-group dynamics can foster Curse processes. Finally, we synthesise evidence from both the Cure and Curse literatures to highlight the complex interplay between these phenomena and how they are influenced by both intra-and inter-group processes. We conclude by considering areas we deem vital for future investigation within the discipline.
Our study examined the role of social identity processes in determining how individuals evaluate, deal with, and are affected by severe events of war. We reasoned that for those who experience such events collectively and who identify strongly with their group, primary appraisal will be filtered through the prism of social identity. In a sample of Kosovo Albanians who had survived the armed conflict in 1999, we found that those who were able to evaluate the war as affirming their group identity presented lower levels of depressive mood and anxiety and higher levels of self-efficacy. Furthermore, this process of war appraisal affected the process of secondary appraisal. Specifically, positive war appraisal increased availability of support from close others and reduced the importance of positive individual coping strategies in dealing with extreme events. Conversely, negative war appraisal reduced availability of support from close others and reduced the importance of negative coping strategies in dealing with extreme events.Notre recherche étudie le rôle des processus d'identité sociale sur la façon dont les individus déterminent, évaluent, traitent et sont touchés par de graves événements dus à la guerre. Pour ceux qui ont fait l'expérience de tels événe-ments collectifs et qui s'identifient fortement à leur groupe, nous posons l'hypothèse selon laquelle leur évaluation primaire est filtrée par le prisme de l'identité sociale. Ainsi, nous trouvons que des Albanais du Kosovo survivant au conflit armé de 1999, ceux qui ont été capable d'évaluer la guerre comme une affirmation de leur identité de groupe présentent des niveaux de syndromes dépressifs et d'anxiété moins importants et un meilleur niveau d'auto efficacité que les autres. Néanmoins ce processus d'évaluation de la guerre affecte l'évaluation secondaire. Plus précisément, l'évaluation positive de la guerre accroît la disponibilité à soutenir les proches et réduit l'importance des stratégies individuelles de faire-face dans le traitement des événements extrêmes. Réciproquement, l'évaluation négative de la guerre réduit, et la disponibilité à soutenir les proches, et l'importance des stratégies de faire-face négatif dans le traitement des événements extrêmes.
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