Health Care Administration Student Research Supports Local Senior's Group 

Submitted by Ekta Singh, Coordinator and Professor, Health Care Administration 

Banshi Faldu, Temidayo Oluwasola Fayomi, Simran Ajani, and Lynda Chiamaka Ezeh are four graduating students in the Health Care Administration program who dedicated 28 weeks of their Capstone Research Project journey to investigating the growing trends in Social Prescribing in health care in Canada.

Social prescribing bridges the gap between clinical and social care by referring patients to local, non-clinical services that are chosen according to the client’s interests, goals, and gifts. It allows doctors, nurse practitioners, and interprofessional health providers to formally refer patients through to community-based programs as an alternative approach to prescribing pharmaceutical medicine.  

 What does a social prescription look like? It could be participating in an exercise group, receiving a Good Food Box to support food security, taking an art or dance class, joining a bereavement network, getting one’s hands dirty in a community garden, exploring a local hiking trail with a group of peers, volunteering to visit older adults in the communities and much more. 

The students' capstone research focused on learning more about how social prescribing trends can help support loneliness and isolation among seniors in Canada. As part of their community action-learning initiative, the students collaborated with Spencer Lanthier, Social Prescribing Lead for Kingston Community Health Centre (KCHC) and had the opportunity to facilitate a social support group for local seniors in the north end of Kingston.

The students led and participated in knitting and beading workshop, and shared their findings on how simple social connection activities can work powerfully to reduce social isolation. Congratulations to SLC soon to be graduates, Temi, Banshi, Lynda and Simran on their impactful research-in-action! Learn more about social prescribing trends in Canada.