Social Prescribing for an Aging Population

ABSTRACT

As the human population is moving toward a demographic of aging individuals, increased levels of stress will be placed on the current health care system. “… As people live longer, there is a tendency or the onset of disease to occur closer to the end of life” (p. 441) and the incidence of mental health illnesses is prevalent in older adults. Currently, the medical model is dominant in the health care system and aims to cure any issue(s) without considerations in the cause or source. Social prescribing/social prescription enables physicians and health care professionals to refer individuals to non-clinical services, such as art and music, to provide holistic care or a response to the current health care system. This paper will provide an overview of the concept of social prescribing, offer examples in the current practices of social prescription, and describe the role of social prescription in older adults and their caregivers.

KEYWORDS:

• Social prescribing/social prescription
• health
• wellness
• caregivers
• older adults
• arts
• culture

Conflicts of interest

The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.

Additional information

Funding

There was no funding for the writing of this paper.