Caregivers Need Care Too: How Social Prescribing Can Improve Well-Being

Non-medical caregivers, which include family members, friends, and community members who actively participate in the care of loved ones, often do so at the expense of their own needs. Over time, this can lead to a decline in their own health and wellbeing. In this article, we explore the impact of caregiving and an innovative approach to address caregiver well-being.

Based on data collected in the U.S. from 2015-2017, 1 in 5 adults identify themselves as caregivers, of which 20% rate their own health as fair to poor. A recently published Australian study offers insights into social prescribing as a model for addressing caregiver well-being.

Social prescribing, already adopted by over thirty countries, involves connecting individuals to non-clinical, social activities and services to support their health and wellness. It is an approach that is most often used to address the effects of social isolation and loneliness on mental, emotional, and physical health in patients.

An Australian study, published in September 2025, sought to examine the impact that social prescribing programs have on caregivers. This study enrolled ninety-three adult caregiver participants of two social prescribing programs from December 2021 through August 2024. Caregivers were defined as “people who provide unpaid care and support to family members and friends who have a disability, mental illness, chronic condition, terminal illness, an alcohol or other drug issue or who are frail aged.” Most participants were female, with a mean age of 54 years. About 95% had a mental health diagnosis that was related to a stress reaction, adjustment disorder, depression or anxiety.

Participants met individually with link workers to develop customized social prescriptions, which varied based on their needs to address issues such as social isolation, housing instability, and access to community services. The majority of the prescriptions involved referrals to support groups, educational programs, and social activities to address mental, emotional, and/or physical wellbeing.

Six outcome measures were evaluated before and after the twelve-week social prescribing intervention: quality of life, general wellbeing, mental wellbeing, self-reported health, psychological distress, and healthcare utilization.

Results demonstrated statistically significant improvements in the following areas:

• Quality of life

• Mental wellbeing

• Self-reported health

• Psychological distress

• Primary care office visits

Improvements were also seen in general wellbeing and hospital visits, but not at statistically significant levels.

This study demonstrates that social prescriptions for caregivers can be a viable and innovative approach to improve their quality of life, mental and emotional wellbeing, and reduce unnecessary outpatient medical visits.

While formal social prescribing programs for caregivers do not yet exist in the U.S., grassroots community organizations are working to offer a variety of events and activities to support caregiver needs. At the Benjamin Goldberg Foundation, we recently hosted a virtual Caregiver Webinar Series to address the current gap in caregiver support. In case you missed it, you can access the session replays on our Youtube channel here.

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Resources: 

Aggar C, Teunisse AK, Bissett M, Freak-Poli R, Baker JR. Social prescribing for informal carers: a pre-post study. BMC Prim Care. 2025 Sep 2;26(1):276. doi: 10.1186/s12875-025-02978-9. PMID: 40898024; PMCID: PMC12403862. 

Edwards VJ, Bouldin ED, Taylor CA, Olivari BS, McGuire LC. Characteristics and Health Status of Informal Unpaid Caregivers — 44 States, District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico, 2015–2017. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2020;69:183–188. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm6907a2.