Periodic Reporting for period 2 - RECETAS (Re-imagining Environments for Connection and Engagement: Testing Actions for Social Prescribing in Natural Spaces)
Reporting period: 2022-09-01 to 2024-02-29
Re-imagining Environments for Connection and Engagement: Testing Actions for Social Prescribing in Natural Spaces (RECETAS) addresses loneliness, a modifiable health condition that is known to shorten one's lifespan and may be as dangerous to one’s health as smoking or obesity. Loneliness knows no geographic, economic, cultural, and social boundaries and affects all age groups. For urban dwellers, nearby nature, with social structures, can improve health and mental well-being and reduce loneliness. Even under the extraordinary circumstances of COVID-19, people need time in nature for its healing benefits and its role in allowing people to interact in nature. Investments in nature-based solutions (NBS) and green infrastructure (GI) that address rapid urbanization and its adverse consequences on environmental systems in our cities, can be harnessed for health and well-being even in times of health emergencies. RECETAS explores loneliness through a transdisciplinary lens, integrating social, behavioural, health and natural sciences, and is grounded in participatory principles. It uses RCTs and other epidemiologic, anthropological and health economic methods to test socially- and culturally-innovative nature based social prescribing (NBSP) in six cities worldwide. The approach aims to improve upon real-world policy and practice to reduce loneliness by connecting people experiencing loneliness with helping professionals and extensive investments in NBS and GI, while alleviating pressures on stressed health care systems. If successful, it will systematically reduce loneliness, promote and sustain vibrant, socially-connected communities, and reduce health inequalities by connecting to nature in meaningful ways.
RECETAS’s objectives:
1: Understand the patterns and experience of loneliness and NBS/GI to address it in cities
2: Develop and assess novel, participative, viable, and cost-effective solutions
3: Amplify the implementation of novel solutions worldwide
RECETAS’s objectives:
1: Understand the patterns and experience of loneliness and NBS/GI to address it in cities
2: Develop and assess novel, participative, viable, and cost-effective solutions
3: Amplify the implementation of novel solutions worldwide
WP1: We continue to provide oversight and support to the RECETAS project. Our internal management team meets weekly and with the Steering Committee monthly. We recruited a new partner from UWE due to retirement of PI at UWE. We are monitoring progress of the publication committee and created a standardized submission process for scientific and public articles and presentations. We presented our work in forums at local, national and international level, and continue to promote the project and raise awareness. WP3: Scores of in-person meetings among local research teams and stakeholders were held over 12 months to co-create neighborhood-specific menus of NBSP within pilot cities. Each pilot experience followed a progressive process to understand the prevalence of loneliness and its possible solutions through diagnosis, participatory diagnosis, and co-creation of the NBSP menu and indicators. WP4 is coordinating the implementation of the study protocols for three clinical trials and three pre-post studies building on the results obtained in WP3. The main studies obtained the corresponding approval of the ethical committees. The “Friends in Nature” training was created and each intervention site has organised local training protocols to prepare the group facilitators to conduct the group-based intervention within the main studies.WP5: Designed the questionnaires on health and economic outcomes, health-related quality of life and the ICE-CAP questionnaire on capabilities. A systematic literature review was conducted in order to identify the costs of loneliness-related health consequences. Using the literature review, a study protocol on the design and structure of the planned health economic evaluations was prepared. The systematic literature review on decision-analytic models on NBSP was finalised and submitted for publication. WP6 revised the communication and dissemination strategy to include additional across different social media platforms and conferences. All partners are actively involved in promoting the project and raising awareness by attending and speaking at conferences, organising local events, creating partnerships with the local press, writing blogs, contributing to newsletters and social media activity. The first RECETAS scientific articles have also been published. The first project infographic has been created, translated, and disseminated through project channels. Pilot cities are proactive with local communication campaigns to recruit participants for trials. WP7: We completed the Horizon Booster program to obtain support in developing our exploitation strategy. We contracted Kinetikos to design our digital platform. A conceptual framework and design workshop were developed. WP8: We continue to work closely with our external ethics officer. Drafting and compiling deliverables. Collected statements and information from each partner organisations’ DPOs. Communicated with the EU Program Officer to assess needs and plans for a future EC Ethics Check.
WP3: In each local context, the co-creation process served to consolidate a common understanding among different actors, including those affected, about dimensions and characteristics of loneliness and social isolation, as well as the potential solutions, identifying potential assets for health, and revealing experiences of NBSP that serve the city's interest groups. Increasing awareness of the relevance of the topic, participants felt empowered in the co-creation process and became active beyond the life of RECETAS . WP4 is progressing adequately to provide scientific evidence on effectiveness of nature-based social prescription on loneliness and wellbeing, complemented with knowledge on the lived experiences of participants and professionals involved, to impact social and health care practices and policies at local and international level. A manuscript concerning the baseline characteristics, feasibility and feedback of intervention participants has been written and submitted to scientific journal. WP 5: The prepared study protocol presents a comprehensive design for these health economic evaluations including cost-effectiveness studies, cost-utility analyses, and cost-capability studies. These evaluations will allow health care decision-makers to identify the further implications of NBSP interventions on loneliness and the respective health consequences. WP6 is creating a bridge between social prescribing/mental health/loneliness and green infrastructure/nature-based activities. We are making the concept of NbSP understandable and promoting its benefits. We have started to: engage with policy makers by disseminating the methodology of our trials; publish papers to raise awareness among the scientific community; connect with local press for the more general public. WP7: The development and testing of an innovative digital platform will close the gap between health care professionals looking to administer social prescribing and treat loneliness with community-based nature-based solutions and lonely people looking for affordable solutions to foster and maintain social connections. With the digital platform we will be able to bridge the medical community, third-sector organisations, health insurers, and individuals suffering from loneliness in a curated and inspirational digital space to track participation, evaluate effectiveness of solutions, and maintain social connections in a safe, affordable, sustainable way.