Preventing Social Isolation in Later Life through Primary Care–Based Social Prescribing: A Model for Türkiye

Social isolation is not merely a psychosocial experience but a major public health problem with established biological correlates, including increased cardiometabolic risk, inflammation, sleep–endocrine dysregulation, and immune dysfunction. Older adults are particularly vulnerable due to chronic disease burden, mobility limitations, and increasing care needs. Social prescribing is a person-centred approach that links individuals in primary care to non-clinical community resources through structured referral pathways, guided by the question “what matters to you?”.
This narrative review synthesises international evidence published between 2015 and 2025. PubMed/MEDLINE and Scopus were searched using the keywords “social prescribing”, “older adults”, “loneliness”, “social isolation”, “primary care”, and “link worker”. Systematic reviews, policy frameworks, and implementation studies were prioritised, alongside grey literature from official sources including National Health Service (NHS) and World Health Organization (WHO) reports. Findings were thematically analysed across implementation models, outcome evidence, measurement frameworks, and adaptation to the Turkish primary care context.
Evidence suggests that social prescribing is associated with reductions in loneliness and social isolation, and improvements in mental well-being and social participation among older adults. Effective programmes emphasise the link worker role, personalised care planning, supported transitions to community activities, and regular follow-up. Standardised outcome measures such as WEMWBS, UCLA Loneliness Scale, EQ-5D, and health service utilisation indicators are recommended. Social prescribing represents a feasible strategy to address social isolation among older adults. Türkiye’s strong family medicine system and community-based resources provide a suitable foundation for pilot implementation.

Keywords: Aging, loneliness, primary health care, social isolation, social prescribing.