Grant: Planning and Dissemination Grant - Institute Community Support

"Social prescribing" is an innovative, person-centered approach to bridging clinical and social care to provide more holistic support that addresses the psychosocial aspects of health. Although social prescribing has gained momentum globally, it has been largely implemented in primary care. Thus, little is known about the landscape of social prescribing in the rehabilitation sector and opportunities for integration have not yet been explored. Rehabilitation practice is goal-oriented and person-centered, often serving as a natural point of connection between hospital and community care for patients and families. Existing expertise and practice infrastructure in the rehabilitation sector optimally position it for social prescribing. However, collaboration and consensus are needed to determine what social prescribing should entail, how it should be integrated into rehabilitation, and what short- and long-term goals should be prioritized. To address this, we propose undertaking an environmental scan of social prescribing practices in rehabilitation followed by a series of consultation workshops with rehabilitation patients and stakeholders to develop a 5-year roadmap to guide research and practice on social prescribing in rehabilitation.