Social Prescribing and the Role of Communities: A PhD Research Study

I'm researching the relationship between deprivation, community resources and social prescribing in Scotland. Please read on to find out more about the research, and how you can get involved!

What is the aim of this research?

In this study, I'm exploring the relationship between community infrastructure and social prescribing. Community infrastructure means things like the voluntary organisations, public services, and social spaces available in a community or neighbourhood. Social prescribing means the process of connecting people to community resources, to help improve their health and wellbeing by meeting their non-medical needs.

I will be doing a small number of case studies of neighbourhoods in Glasgow and Edinburgh. Case studies involve getting to know a real place in a lot of detail, to understand how things work here. 

I am particularly interested in places which have experienced hard times over a long period – places where there is a lot of hardship and poverty, where people often experience poor health, and places which often experience the worst of local authority funding cuts and the cost-of-living crisis. We call this combination of challenges “deprivation”, and we know that places which experience deprivation often lose out on community resources, which are needed for social prescribing. I want to understand what this means in reality.

My focus is on people in mid- to later life, which we define as anyone over the age of 40. This is because we begin to see big differences in health outcomes among people in Scotland, from the age of 40 onwards, as a result of inequalities between poorer and richer parts of the country.

This short animation also explains why I am doing this research:

Short animation explaining my research on social prescribing, community infrastructure and deprivation.

Social  prescribing  connects  people to  community  resources  that  can  help  them - whether  that's  with  staying active,  making  social  connections, being  creative,  or  countless  other  things that  help  our  health  and  well  being. But  what  happens  when community  resources  are  not  available, whether  that's  due  to  deprivation, austerity,  or  budget  cuts? And  how  do  we  know  what  aspects  of our  community  resources  make the  most  difference  to  the success  of  social  prescribing? This  is  what  I'm  trying  to  find  out. My  PhD  research  is  exploring the  relationship  between community  infrastructure, deprivation,  and  social  prescribing. I'll  be  getting  to  know two  or  three  neighbourhoods in  deprived  areas  of  Glasgow  and  Edinburgh. Interviewing  people involved  in  social  prescribing, people  in  the  voluntary  and  community  sectors and  local  residents. If  you're  interested  in  finding  out  more, please  take  a  look  at  my  website, or  drop  me  an  e  mail. I'd  love  to  hear  from  you.

How can I get involved?

Over the coming months, I hope to speak to people involved in delivering social prescribing; people who work or volunteer in community organisations; and people who live in the neighbourhoods I'm studying.

I am currently identifying case study sites, and one of the key criteria is being able to speak to people who have experience of delivering social prescribing in the area.

At the moment, I'm actively recruiting people who are (or have recently been) involved in delivering social prescribing only. 

If this is you, and you are interested in finding out more, please get in touch with me! You can email me on emilie.mcswiggan@ed.ac.uk, or we can arrange a phone call or Teams call to talk about the study if you would like to do so.

More Information:

My name is Emilie McSwiggan. I'm a PhD researcher at the Advanced Care Research Centre (ACRC) Academy, at the University of Edinburgh. My background is in public health and health policy. You can find out more about me through the ACRC's Student Spotlight, our Cohort Overview, and my University profile. You can email me on emilie.mcswiggan@ed.ac.uk. 


The study proposal has been reviewed by my academic supervisory team, and by my PPI mentor. (PPI stands for “Patient and Public Involvement”, and refers to the process of listening to and including the voices of patients or members of the public in the design and conduct of research. My PPI mentor is a member of the public who has contributed his insight throughout my PhD.)

All research is looked at by an independent group of people called an Ethics Committee. A favourable ethical opinion has been obtained from EMREC, the Ethics Committee within the College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine at the University of Edinburgh (Ethics Reference Number: 24-EMREC-064).


If you have any questions or concerns about this study, please do get in touch! If you would prefer not to speak to me, you can contact the following people:

Professor Stewart Mercer is my primary PhD supervisor. You can email him on stewart.mercer@ed.ac.uk.

Dr Tricia Tooman is the independent point of contact for this research study. If you would like to discuss your questions with someone who has not been involved in designing or planning this research, you can email her on tricia.tooman@ed.ac.uk.

If you wish to make a complaint about the study, please contact the Academic and Clinical Central Office for Research and Development (ACCORD) at resgov@accord.scot. 


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