{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,18]],"date-time":"2026-08-18T01:39:32Z","timestamp":1787017172385,"version":"build-2736575974"},"reference-count":35,"publisher":"BMJ","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,12]],"date-time":"2026-01-12T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1768176000000},"content-version":"unspecified","delay-in-days":11,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"European Union\u2019s Horizon Europe Research and Innovation Programme","award":["101155873"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["101155873"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["bmj.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["BMJ Open"],"accepted":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,23]]},"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2026,1]]},"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Introduction<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      Social prescribing is an approach to addressing non-medical issues affecting people\u2019s 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:\n                      <jats:italic>What are the enabling and limiting factors associated with implementing social prescribing, across different European countries, from the perspective of key stakeholders?<\/jats:italic>\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods and analysis<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>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.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Ethics and dissemination<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Ethical approval was initially secured through the University of Oxford\u2019s 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 Universit\u00e4t 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.<\/jats:p>\n                    <jats:p>This project has received funding from the European Union\u2019s 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.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1136\/bmjopen-2025-112887","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,12]],"date-time":"2026-01-12T15:31:00Z","timestamp":1768231860000},"page":"e112887","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1136\/crossmarkpolicy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":3,"title":["Social prescribing within five European countries: a protocol of a cross-country qualitative analysis"],"prefix":"10.1136","volume":"16","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2155-2440","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Stephanie","family":"Tierney","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Debra","family":"Westlake","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Farhad","family":"Rezvani","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of General Practice and Family Medicine, Charit\u00e9 - Universit\u00e4tsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, BE, Germany"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Daniela","family":"Rojatz","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department for Health, Society and Equity, Austrian National Public Health Institute, Vienna, Austria"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3451-7847","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Juliane","family":"K\u00f6berlein-Neu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Center for Health Economics and Health Services Research, University of Wuppertal, Wuppertal, Germany"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0007-1748-1073","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Trutz","family":"Bommhardt","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Center for Health Economics and Health Services Research, University of Wuppertal Schumpeter Faculty of Management and Economics - School of Business and Economics, Wuppertal, Germany"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"S\u00f3nia","family":"Dias","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"National School of Public Health, Public Health Research Centre, NOVA University Lisbon, Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Maria Jo\u00e3o","family":"Marques","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"National School of Public Health, Public Health Research Centre, NOVA University Lisbon, Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Donata","family":"Kurpas","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Nursing, Wroc\u0142aw Medical University, Wroc\u0142aw, Poland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Hendrik","family":"Napierala","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of General Practice and Family Medicine, Charit\u00e9 - Universit\u00e4tsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, BE, Germany"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Wolfram","family":"Herrmann","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of General Practice and Family Medicine, Charit\u00e9 - Universit\u00e4tsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, BE, Germany"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"K","family":"Husk","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Peninsula Medical School, University of Plymouth, Plymouth, England, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"239","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,12]]},"reference":[{"key":"2026011207302396000_16.1.e112887.1","unstructured":"Marmot M , Allen J , Goldblatt P , et al . Fair society, healthy lives: the marmot review. 2010. Available: https:\/\/instituteofhealthequity.org\/resources-reports\/fair-society-healthy-lives-the-marmot-review"},{"key":"2026011207302396000_16.1.e112887.2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1136\/bmjopen-2022-070184","article-title":"Establishing internationally accepted conceptual and operational definitions of social prescribing through expert consensus: a Delphi study","volume":"13","author":"Muhl","year":"2023","journal-title":"BMJ Open"},{"key":"2026011207302396000_16.1.e112887.3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.3399\/bjgp19X705569"},{"key":"2026011207302396000_16.1.e112887.4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/hsc.12839"},{"key":"2026011207302396000_16.1.e112887.5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1186\/s12916-020-1510-7","article-title":"Supporting social prescribing in primary care by linking people to local assets: a realist review","volume":"18","author":"Tierney","year":"2020","journal-title":"BMC Med"},{"key":"2026011207302396000_16.1.e112887.6","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/hsc.13295"},{"key":"2026011207302396000_16.1.e112887.7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Lawler C , Sherriff G , Brown P , et al . Homes and health in the Outer Hebrides: A social prescribing framework for addressing fuel poverty and the social determinants of health. Health Place 2023;79. doi:10.1016\/j.healthplace.2022.102926","DOI":"10.1016\/j.healthplace.2022.102926"},{"key":"2026011207302396000_16.1.e112887.8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1186\/s12913-022-08656-1","article-title":"Do people perceive benefits in the use of social prescribing to address loneliness and\/or social isolation? A qualitative meta-synthesis of the literature","volume":"22","author":"Liebmann","year":"2022","journal-title":"BMC Health Serv Res"},{"key":"2026011207302396000_16.1.e112887.9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.5334\/ijic.6472","article-title":"Social Prescribing: Systematic Review of the Effectiveness of Psychosocial Community Referral Interventions in Primary Care","volume":"22","author":"Napierala","year":"2022","journal-title":"Int J Integr Care"},{"key":"2026011207302396000_16.1.e112887.10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1186\/s12913-018-3437-7","article-title":"Understanding the effectiveness and mechanisms of a social prescribing service: a mixed method analysis","volume":"18","author":"Woodall","year":"2018","journal-title":"BMC Health Serv Res"},{"key":"2026011207302396000_16.1.e112887.11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Bertotti M , ed. Social prescribing policy, research and practice: Transforming systems and communities for improved health and wellbeing. Cham: Springer, 2024.","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-031-52106-5"},{"key":"2026011207302396000_16.1.e112887.12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1136\/bmjgh-2022-008524","article-title":"Global developments in social prescribing","volume":"7","author":"Morse","year":"2022","journal-title":"BMJ Glob Health"},{"key":"2026011207302396000_16.1.e112887.13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Scarpetti G , Shadowen H , Williams GA , et al . A comparison of social prescribing approaches across twelve high-income countries. Health Policy 2024;142. doi:10.1016\/j.healthpol.2024.104992","DOI":"10.1016\/j.healthpol.2024.104992"},{"key":"2026011207302396000_16.1.e112887.14","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/s11606-014-2905-y"},{"key":"2026011207302396000_16.1.e112887.15","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1136\/jech-2016-207183"},{"key":"2026011207302396000_16.1.e112887.16","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.3390\/ijerph18157901","article-title":"Access to Healthcare for Migrant Patients in Europe: Healthcare Discrimination and Translation Services","volume":"18","author":"Gil-Salmer\u00f3n","year":"2021","journal-title":"Int J Environ Res Public Health"},{"key":"2026011207302396000_16.1.e112887.17","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1186\/s12877-022-02816-y","article-title":"Obstacles to access to community care in urban senior-only households: a qualitative study","volume":"22","author":"Gong","year":"2022","journal-title":"BMC Geriatr"},{"key":"2026011207302396000_16.1.e112887.18","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"80","DOI":"10.1111\/aphw.12376","article-title":"Loneliness and depressive symptoms differ by sexual orientation and gender identity during physical distancing measures in response to COVID-19 pandemic in Germany","volume":"15","author":"Herrmann","year":"2023","journal-title":"Appl Psychol Health Well Being"},{"key":"2026011207302396000_16.1.e112887.19","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"584","DOI":"10.1177\/1049731521996814","article-title":"Poverty in Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Two-Spirit, and Other Sexual and Gender Minority (LGBTQ2S+) Communities in Canada: Implications for Social Work Practice","volume":"31","author":"Kia","year":"2021","journal-title":"Res Soc Work Pract"},{"key":"2026011207302396000_16.1.e112887.20","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1186\/s12889-020-08749-8","article-title":"Migrants\u2019 and refugees\u2019 health status and healthcare in Europe: a scoping literature review","volume":"20","author":"Lebano","year":"2020","journal-title":"BMC Public Health"},{"key":"2026011207302396000_16.1.e112887.21","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.2807\/1560-7917.ES.2018.23.49.1800097","article-title":"Quantifying unmet prevention needs among MSM in Europe through a multi-site bio-behavioural survey","volume":"23","author":"Mirandola","year":"2018","journal-title":"Euro Surveill"},{"key":"2026011207302396000_16.1.e112887.22","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"291","DOI":"10.1093\/geront\/gnz192","article-title":"A Closer Look at Loneliness: Why Do First-Generation Migrants Feel More Lonely Than Their Native Dutch Counterparts?","volume":"60","author":"Ten Kate","year":"2020","journal-title":"Gerontologist"},{"key":"2026011207302396000_16.1.e112887.23","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0314107","article-title":"Interrogating green social prescribing in South Wales; A multi-stakeholder qualitative exploration","volume":"20","author":"Brown","year":"2025","journal-title":"PLoS ONE"},{"key":"2026011207302396000_16.1.e112887.24","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"135","DOI":"10.1177\/17579139231170786","article-title":"Service user perspectives on social prescribing services for mental health in the UK: a systematic review","volume":"143","author":"Cooper","year":"2023","journal-title":"Perspect Public Health"},{"key":"2026011207302396000_16.1.e112887.25","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"157","DOI":"10.1177\/17579139231184809","article-title":"Factors influencing social prescribing initiatives: a systematic review of qualitative evidence","volume":"145","author":"Ebrahimoghli","year":"2025","journal-title":"Perspect Public Health"},{"key":"2026011207302396000_16.1.e112887.26","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.3399\/BJGP.2024.0179"},{"key":"2026011207302396000_16.1.e112887.27","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0306404","article-title":"Implementing a social prescribing program in primary care units in Portugal: A qualitative study exploring enablers, barriers and lessons learned from the perspectives of stakeholders involved in the program implementation","volume":"19","author":"Hoffmeister","year":"2024","journal-title":"PLoS ONE"},{"key":"2026011207302396000_16.1.e112887.28","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1186\/s12916-024-03478-w","article-title":"A meta-ethnography of the factors that shape link workers\u2019 experiences of social prescribing","volume":"22","author":"Turk","year":"2024","journal-title":"BMC Med"},{"key":"2026011207302396000_16.1.e112887.29","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"100416","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ssmqr.2024.100416","article-title":"Examining qualitative cross-country comparative analysis in health: Reflective insights and methodological considerations","volume":"5","author":"Heath","year":"2024","journal-title":"SSM - Qualitative Research in Health"},{"key":"2026011207302396000_16.1.e112887.30","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1093\/intqhc\/mzm042"},{"key":"2026011207302396000_16.1.e112887.31","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/1049732315617444"},{"key":"2026011207302396000_16.1.e112887.32","unstructured":"Spencer L , Ritchie J , O\u2019Connor W . Analysis: practices, principles and processes. In: Ritchie J , Lewis J , McNaughton Nicholls C , et al , eds. Qualitative research practice. London: Sage, 2014."},{"key":"2026011207302396000_16.1.e112887.33","first-page":"8","article-title":"Cross-national research: What can we learn from inter-country comparisons","volume":"7","author":"Baistow","year":"2000","journal-title":"Soc Work Eur"},{"key":"2026011207302396000_16.1.e112887.34","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1186\/1472-6963-10-17","article-title":"Guidelines; from foe to friend? Comparative interviews with GPs in Norway and Denmark","volume":"10","author":"Carlsen","year":"2010","journal-title":"BMC Health Serv Res"},{"key":"2026011207302396000_16.1.e112887.35","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1186\/1471-2458-11-187","article-title":"Good practice in health care for migrants: views and experiences of care professionals in 16 European countries","volume":"11","author":"Priebe","year":"2011","journal-title":"BMC Public Health"}],"container-title":["BMJ Open"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/syndication.highwire.org\/content\/doi\/10.1136\/bmjopen-2025-112887","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,12]],"date-time":"2026-01-12T15:31:13Z","timestamp":1768231873000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/bmjopen.bmj.com\/lookup\/doi\/10.1136\/bmjopen-2025-112887"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2026,1]]},"references-count":35,"journal-issue":{"issue":"1","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,12]]},"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2026,1]]}},"alternative-id":["10.1136\/bmjopen-2025-112887"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1136\/bmjopen-2025-112887","relation":{},"ISSN":["2044-6055","2044-6055"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2044-6055","type":"print"},{"value":"2044-6055","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2026,1]]}}}