Dear All,
Compliments of the season. I trust your holidays have been worthwhile.
I just want to lend my voice in complimenting the authors of this brilliant
article on Social prescribing and many thanks to Gonca Yilmaz for sharing
his thoughts about loneliness in adolescence. Indeed, loneliness is
becoming common amongst adolescents possibly because of increasing virtual
relationships or connections at the expense of physical connection. Social
media and its gadgets have contributed so much to increasing isolation of
youths/adolescents. You may be in a bus, or even in a home, sitting next to
someone, but both persons are more deeply engaged with their mobile phones,
scarcely engaging in a conversation with each other. This gradually
diminishes interpersonal communication.
Regarding social prescribing, I must confess that the terminology is new to
me, although the practice may not be entirely new, but possibly done in an
unstructured manner. It will be great to be able to learn more about social
prescribing. I like the phrase "trusted individuals" in the definition,
meaning that not everyone can be entrusted with social prescribing.
I, however, wonder, if it is for doctors alone, or could it be
multi-dsciplinary? Requisite skills are essential. Knowing the influence
of the context of the child/adolescent's environment (religion, culture,
political, socio-economic etc) will help the social prescriber make
feasible prescriptions and help policymakers make relevant policies.
In all, more enlightenment on social prescribing would be necessary through
webinars, shared research findings etc
Thanks for stimulating our thoughts.
Cheers!
Thecla Ezeonu
CHIFA profile: Thecla Ezeonu is a Community Pediatrician working with the Federal Teaching Hospital, Abakaliki, in Ebonyi State, Southeast Nigeria, and is also a Senior Lecturer with the Ebonyi State University and teaches Pediatrics for the medical school. Special interest is on the School Health Programme, which is currently neglected in Nigeria, but is an essential agent for positive societal change.
ctezeonu AT gmail.com