Social prescribing within five European countries: a protocol of a cross-country qualitative analysis

Journal article

Introduction

Social prescribing is an approach to addressing non-medical issues affecting people's health and well-being (eg, loneliness, housing or financial problems). It has gained international traction over recent years as complementary to medical care. A larger research project, comparing social prescribing across European countries, is considering how to tailor provision for the following groups: (a) LGBTIQ+persons, (b) refugees and first-generation immigrants and (c) older adults living alone. As part of this research, a qualitative study will address the question: What are the enabling and limiting factors associated with implementing social prescribing, across different European countries, from the perspective of key stakeholders? METHODS AND ANALYSIS: Five European countries (Austria, England, Germany, Poland, Portugal) will be involved. Researchers from each country will conduct approximately 20 semi-structured interviews (total number will be 100). Interviewees will be people receiving, delivering, managing and funding/commissioning social prescribing. Interviews will be audio-recorded and transcribed. A cross-country analysis will be undertaken; framework analysis will support this process, with a chart developed in Excel in which data from across the five countries is summarised by the researchers involved. Summaries will be based on a thematic framework that researchers from the five countries develop together after initially analysing their own data.

Ethics and dissemination

Ethical approval was initially secured through the University of Oxford's Medical Sciences Interdivisional Research Ethics Committee (IDREC 1806086) for data collection in England. This approved application was then used to secure ethics approval in Austria (through Ludwig Boltzmann Gesellschaft), Germany (through Bergische Universität Wuppertal), Poland (through Wroclaw Medical University) and Portugal (through NOVA University of Lisbon). Dissemination will include an academic journal article and presentation at relevant conferences. It will also include short videos, written summaries/policy briefs and an infographic.This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon Europe Research and Innovation Programme under grant agreement No 101155873. Views and opinions expressed are, however, those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Health and Digital Executive Agency (HADEA). Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.

Authors: Tierney, S; Westlake, D; Rezvani, F; Rojatz, D; Köberlein-Neu, J

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: BMJ Publishing Group
• Journal: BMJ Open
• Volume: 16
• Issue: 1
• Pages: e112887-e112887
• Publication date: 2026-01-12
• DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2025-112887
• EISSN: 2044-6055
• ISSN: 2044-6055
• Language: English
• Keywords: Qualitative property; Thematic analysis; Health services research; Research ethics; Data collection; Refugee; Limiting; Protocol (science); Immigration; Qualitative research