Social prescribing for informal carers: a pre-post study

Abstract

Background: Informal carers often experience compromised mental and physical wellbeing due to their caring responsibilities. While social prescribing shows promise in supporting various populations, evidence for its effectiveness in supporting carers is limited. This study assessed the impact of a social prescribing program on health-related quality of life and other wellbeing measures among Australian adult carers.

Methods: Analysis of de-identified data was conducted using pre- and post-intervention measures from two social prescribing programs in New South Wales, Australia (December 2021-August 2024). Participants were adults who self-presented or were referred by their GP for either mental ill-health or chronic disease management. Of 821 eligible participants, 93 (11.3%) were identified as carers based on their social prescriptions and case note review. The intervention involved link workers co-designing individualised plans with participants over 12 weeks, providing referrals to community services and supports. Outcomes included quality of life, mental wellbeing, self-reported health, psychological distress, and healthcare utilisation. Statistical analysis included paired t-tests for pre-post comparisons.

Results: Carers received significantly more social prescriptions than non-carers (mean difference = 2.05, p = .002), particularly in mental and emotional wellbeing (54%) and physical wellbeing (45%) domains. Following the intervention, carers showed significant improvements in quality of life (p < .001), mental wellbeing (p < .001), self-reported health (p < .001), and psychological distress (p < .001). GP visits reduced significantly (p = .002), while hospital visits showed non-significant reductions. Link workers primarily engaged with carers via phone (98%), followed by internet (80%) and face-to-face (67%) contact.

Conclusions: Social prescribing appears to be an effective intervention for supporting carers’ wellbeing and reducing healthcare utilisation. The high uptake of phone-based support suggests potential for scalable remote delivery. Future research with larger samples is needed to examine program benefits across diverse demographic groups and varying intensities of caring responsibilities.

Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12875-025-02978-9.

Keywords: Caregivers; Carers; Link worker; Quality of life; Social prescribing; Wellbeing.

Fig. 1

Flowchart diagram of study participants