INcreasing Adolescent Social and Community SupporT - Pilot

Summary

Background: Social prescribing is a mechanism of connecting patients with non-medical forms of support within the community and has been shown to improve loneliness. Yet uptake from young people has been lower than for adults. This is thought to be due to accessibility issues as young people are less likely to draw on primary care, where social prescribing in based, for wellbeing support. INACT will pilot a social prescribing pathway via schools to support young people who are lonely. It will test the feasibility and acceptability of delivering and evaluating it through a randomised controlled trial.

Methods: 78 pupils reporting loneliness will be recruited across 12 mainstream (6 primary and 6 secondary) schools in England and be randomly allocated to signposting or social prescribing. Pupils in the control group will receive signposting to sources of support from school staff. The co-produced social prescribing intervention includes up to 6 sessions with a Link Worker who will work with individuals to understand 'what matters to them' and connect them with local sources of support. Data will be collected at baseline, 3- and 6-months later. Acceptability and feasibility will be assessed via recruitment and retention, as well as via qualitative interviews. Interviews will also explore barriers, facilitators and mechanisms of change. Potential primary and secondary outcomes for a future trial will be completed to assess response and completeness, including measures of loneliness, mental health and wellbeing.

Discussion: INACT will provide preliminary evidence of the feasibility and acceptability of both the research design and social prescribing intervention. Results will inform a potential future randomised trial.

Conditions

• Loneliness

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Social Prescribing

SP is a person-centred approach to wellbeing involving the co-development of a non-clinical prescription, between an individual (i.e. young person) and LW, based on the perceived difficulties for the referral and the YPs values, needs and preferences. LWs have an excellent knowledge of their local areas, via community asset mapping and networking, allowing them to connect individuals with different types of available support and activities. Typically, SP ranges from 6-12 sessions (average 8 sessions: unpublished data from sites) with a LW over an 8-week period. Sessions may take place online, via phone call, or in person. As part of this process, LWs draw on psychological skills such as motivational interviewing and behavioural activation as well as employ problem solving and goal setting. Following the identification of issues and preferences, the LW will discuss with the YP what the available local activities and support structures are that best match their preferences.

BEHAVIORAL

Signposting

Those in the control group will receive signposting to activities and local sources of support in their communities. This will consist of school pastoral staff meeting with YP identified as lonely and providing them with a leaflet detailing the same local sources of support identified by the LW from asset mapping.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of Manchester

  collaborator OTHER

• University College, London

  lead OTHER

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

NONE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

9 Years

Max Age

13 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2024-11-12

Primary Completion

2025-07-01

Completion

2025-08-31

Countries

• United Kingdom