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CEHP Seminar - Prof. Daisy Fancourt
15 May 2025, 12:00 pm–1:00 pm
Social prescribing: ground-breaking or gimmicky?
Event Information
Open to
- All
Availability
- Yes
Organiser
-
Mairi Jeffery – Clinical, Educational and Health Psychology
Location
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LG0426 Bedford WayLondonWC1H 0DSUnited Kingdom
Title: Social prescribing: ground-breaking or gimmicky?
Abstract:
In 2019, the UK government announced a radical, major investment in "social prescribing" as part of its NHS Long Term Plan. A type of personalised care, social prescribing connects individuals with non-clinical supports and services within the community to address diverse health and social needs. Since, an estimated 3 million people in the UK have received social prescribing and the scheme has spread to over 30 countries. But there has been much controversy about whether social prescribing can genuinely address health needs or instead presents an unregulated service potentially even exacerbating health inequalities. This talk will consider the findings to date, including the substantial body of clinical trials and epidemiological analyses led by UCL's Social Biobehavioural Research Group.
About the Speaker
Prof. Daisy Fancourt
Professor of Psychobiology & Epidemiology and Head of the Social Biobehavioural Research Group, UCL at Clinical, Educational, and Health Psychology, Psychology and Language Sciences, UCL
Daisy Fancourt is Professor of Psychobiology & Epidemiology and Head of the Social Biobehavioural Research Group at UCL. She is also Director of the World Health Organisation Collaborating Centre on Arts and Health, as well as a member of the WHO Technical Advisory Group on cultural and behavioural insights on health and an Expert Scientific Advisory to DCMS.
Her research focuses on how social relationships and behaviours affect health, considering both social deficits (such as loneliness and social isolation) and social assets (such as community involvement, participation in arts and cultural activities, and social prescribing). Her research team investigates the psychological, biological, social, and behavioural mechanisms through which social connections influence health. They also examine how individual and group-level characteristics shape these effects, as well as the barriers, enablers, and differing patterns of engagement across different population groups.