Journal Article (Australian)
Published: July 2024
Brief Summary:
EPIC‐CP Group. Development of a new social prescribing intervention for families of children with cerebral palsy.
Ostojic K, Karem I, Dee-Price BJ, Paget SP, Berg A, Burnett H, Scott TR, Strnadová I, Woolfenden SR; EPIC‐CP Group. Development of a new social prescribing intervention for families of children with cerebral palsy. Dev Med Child Neurol. 2024 Jul 19. doi: 10.1111/dmcn.16039.
Who is this for?
Children with Cerebral Palsy
What is the aim?
To co-design a social prescribing intervention (the EPIC-CP programme: Equitable Pathways and Integrated Care in Cerebral Palsy) with children with cerebral palsy (CP), their families, and clinicians to address unmet social needs.
Results/Outcomes:
More than 200 participants contributed to the co-design research. Families experienced a substantial burden of unmet social needs. Co-designed interventions involved systematic identification of unmet social needs with (1) targeted community resources and (2) engagement with a ‘community linker’ who supported children/young people and their families to access health, education, and social services that matched their identified needs and preferences. Research participants co-developed the programme logic model and prototype. This was piloted in research action cycles and iteratively refined until consensus was achieved.
We co-designed a social prescribing programme responsive to the needs of its end-users and purposefully developed to be embedded in the Australian health setting. A pilot randomized controlled trial will further evaluate this intervention.