ArticlePloS one2026
Social prescribing programs involving unpaid caregivers: A scoping review.
Article in PloS one, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Unpaid caregivers face significant health challenges due to the sustained demands of their roles. Social prescribing is a model of care that may help unpaid caregivers connect with non-medical community-based support systems to improve their health and well-being. Given the growing interest in social prescribing, there is a need to map out existing literature to understand its potential to support caregiver health. This scoping review describes the current landscape of social prescribing programs for unpaid caregivers. A protocol was previously published on Open Science Framework. We searched academic and grey literature from January 2000 to March 2025, following Arksey and O'Malley's framework and JBI recommendations for scoping reviews. An inductive approach was used to analyse data in order to generate descriptive summaries and themes of program and outcome characteristics. We identified 17 studies for inclusion from 4376 titles and abstracts. Most programs were designed for both caregivers and care recipients to participate in together and involved a variety of self, provider and community-based referral pathways. Programs included nature, art, museum and physical activity-based experiences, and most were facilitated by a supervisor or coach. Program features varied, offering caregivers spaces to connect and socialize, strengthen their relationship with the care recipient, or express themselves creatively. Studies reported positive impacts on caregiver stress, the caregiver-care recipient relationship, and social connection. Logistical benefits such as low cost and accessibility, as well as challenges like transportation and scheduling were reported to influence program attendance and retention. While this review highlights the potential of social prescribing to support caregiver health, future research should explore opportunities to integrate programs within respite care, develop more structured referral pathways and evaluate the full social prescribing pathway in addition to virtual programming options to ensure effective implementation within broader health and social care systems.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.