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Nature-based social prescribing programmes: opportunities, challenges, and facilitators for implementation

de Bell, S, Alejandre, J.C., Menzel, C, Sousa-Silva, R, Straka, T, Berzborn, S, Bürck-Gemassmer, M, Dallimer, Martin, Dayson, C, Fisher, Jessica C., and others. (2024) Nature-based social prescribing programmes: opportunities, challenges, and facilitators for implementation. Environment International, 190 . Article Number 108801. ISSN 0160-4120. (doi:10.1016/j.envint.2024.108801) (KAR id:106196)

Abstract

Evidence on the health benefits of spending time in nature has highlighted the importance of provision of blue and green spaces where people live. The potential for health benefits offered by nature exposure, however, extends beyond health promotion to health treatment. Social prescribing links people with health or social care needs to community-based, non-clinical health and social care interventions to improve health and wellbeing. Nature-based social prescribing (NBSP) is a variant that uses the health-promoting benefits of activities carried out in natural environments, such as gardening and walking. Much current NBSP practice has been developed in the UK, and there is increasing global interest in its implementation. This requires interventions to be adapted for different contexts, considering the needs of populations and the structure of healthcare systems. This paper presents results from an expert group participatory workshop involving 29 practitioners, researchers, and policymakers from the UK and Germany's health and environmental sectors. Using the UK and Germany, two countries with different healthcare systems and in different developmental stages of NBSP practice, as case studies, we analysed opportunities, challenges, and facilitators for the development and implementation of NBSP. We identified five overarching themes for developing, implementing, and evaluating NBSP: Capacity Building; Accessibility and Acceptability; Networks and Collaborations; Standardised Implementation and Evaluation; and Sustainability. We also discuss key strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats for each overarching theme to understand how they could be developed to support NBSP implementation. NBSP could offer significant public health benefits using available blue and green spaces. We offer guidance on how NBSP implementation, from wider policy support to the design and evaluation of individual programmes, could be adapted to different contexts. This research could help inform the development and evaluation of NBSP programmes to support planetary health from local and global scales.

Item Type: Article
DOI/Identification number: 10.1016/j.envint.2024.108801
Uncontrolled keywords: Public health, Environment, Policy, Natural environments, Nature-based social prescribing, Green social prescribing, Health
Subjects: H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General)
Q Science > QH Natural history > QH301 Biology
R Medicine > RA Public aspects of medicine > RA421 Public health. Hygiene. Preventive Medicine
Divisions: Divisions > Division of Human and Social Sciences > School of Anthropology and Conservation > DICE (Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology)
Funders: British Council (https://ror.org/00t3pr326)
Depositing User: Jessica Fisher
Date Deposited: 07 Jun 2024 08:46 UTC
Last Modified: 10 Jul 2024 14:58 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/106196 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

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