Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Research Protocols
Date Submitted: Feb 8, 2023
Open Peer Review Period: Feb 8, 2023 - Feb 23, 2023
Date Accepted: May 3, 2023
(closed for review but you can still tweet)
Evaluating the effectiveness of rural digital social prescribing in Korea: Protocol for a cohort study
ABSTRACT
Background:
The UK National Health Service (NHS) has introduced a digital social prescribing (DSP) system to improve the mental health of the aging population. In Korea, an ongoing pilot social prescribing project has beeThis research aims to develop a DSP program and to evaluate the effectiveness of the digital platform in rural areas of Korea.n implemented for elderly individuals in rural areas since 2019.
Objective:
This research aims to develop a DSP program and to evaluate the effectiveness of the digital platform in rural areas of Korea.
Methods:
This study was designed as a prospective cohort method for the development and effectiveness evaluation of rural DSP in Korea. The study divided participants into four groups. Group 1 will continuously implement the existing social prescribing program, Group 2 implemented the existing social prescribing program but has switched to DSP in 2023, Group 3 newly started the DSP, and the remaining group is the control. The research area of this study is Gangwon province in Korea. The study is being conducted in Wonju, Chuncheon, and Gangneung. This study will use the indicators to measure the depression, anxiety, loneliness, cognitive function, digital literacy. In future, the interventions will implement 1) Digital Platform, 2) Music Story Telling Program. This study will conduct to evaluate the effectiveness of DSP using difference-in-difference regression and the cost-benefit analysis.
Results:
This study was approved for funding from the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education in OCT 2022. The results of the data analysis are expected to be available from September 2023.
Conclusions:
The platform will be spread to rural areas in Korea and will serve as the foundation for effectively managing the feelings of solitude and depression among elderly individuals. This study will provide vital evidence for disseminating DSP in Asian countries such as Japan, China, Singapore, and Taiwan as well as for studying DSP in Korea
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