II was so grateful for having the opportunity to sit in on the recent ActivitiesStrong Summit hosted by Linked Senior, Activity Connection, NAAP, and NCAAP. This yearly event aims to acknowledge, educate and empower activity and life enrichment professionals and celebrate the longest day in honor of everyone living with cognitive change to honor the professionals who serve older adults in senior living.
There was insightful discussion among leaders and change-makers across the interdisciplinary spectrum regarding the framework of social prescribing, which I found fascinating and would like to elaborate on.
What is Social Prescribing?
Let's talk about what is meant by social prescribing. Social prescribing is an emerging field, broadly defined as a framework and process for linking residents with non-medical sources of support within the community, much like a system of community referrals among different stakeholders within the community.
The goal of social prescribing is to empower individuals to take back control of their well-being and health. Services focus on what matters to the person and providing services within the pool of local resources within one's community.
How It Can Help
Social prescribing aims to improve emotional, social, and physical well-being. While there is limited research specifically on a social prescription model as it relates to persons living with dementia, research currently supports these theories:
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Social engagement is linked to improved quality of life.
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Accessing joint activities for people with dementia and caregivers can be beneficial for both.
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Engaging in socially prescribed community-based activity is linked to increased well-being.
Let's take a 30,000-foot view of what we know and what we as stakeholders can do to improve how we are helping to promote well-being, especially for those living with dementia and their careers.
First, we need to be realistic about the numbers. According to the CDC, over 16 million people in the U.S. live with some form of cognitive impairment.
Cognitive impairment is when a person has trouble remembering, learning new things, concentrating, or making decisions that affect their everyday life.
Cognitive impairment ranges from mild to severe. With mild impairment, people may notice changes in cognitive functions but still be able to go about daily activities. However, severe levels of impairment can lead to losing the ability to understand the meaning or importance of something and the ability to talk or write, resulting in the inability to live independently.
Age: is the greatest risk factor for cognitive impairment, and as the Baby Boomer generation passes age 65, the number of people living with cognitive impairment is expected to jump dramatically. An estimated 5.1 million Americans aged 65 years or older may currently have Alzheimer's disease (A.D.), the most well-known form of cognitive impairment; this number may rise to 13.2 million by 2050.
The number of people to support those living with cognitive impairments, whether a diagnosis of A.D. or other forms of dementia, is well over 40 million and climbing rapidly.
Growing numbers of families and nonpaid carers (friends, neighbors, faith community volunteers) are and will continue to grow as a much-needed resource for older adults, especially as workforce shortages continue as a significant threat to the quality of our healthcare system.
We are trying to take care of an aging population that we cannot pay for, affecting every level of our society and every stakeholder in aging services who is adjusting to this stark reality.
Conclusion
As we move away from a medical model of care to a more holistic means of supporting health, well-being, and empowerment for aging adults and their carers, a model of social prescribing makes abundant sense.
What will it take to get there - sooner rather than later? Bringing stakeholders together is first and foremost. Thankfully, I believe this is happening in communities of sizes across the country. The insidious outcomes of loneliness and isolation among older adults, in particular, have devastating and costly effects across the healthcare system and beyond.
We have much work ahead to get us to a healthy and working social prescribing framework, but I believe the work from the inside out is being done, and moving from the local community outward will make it happen faster. Sharing models that work and taking calculated risks to bring as much quality education and awareness to this is key. I see it happening in Fort Worth, Texas, and I know there are many promising data-driven models in action not alone across the U.S. but worldwide.
None of us have the answers, and it will be a work in progress, but I'm thankful to be in this space and making a small difference in improving the quality of life of older adults, especially those living with dementia, their carers, and those who serve them.
