CBR matrix, social prescribing, app development

Healthcare management and medical sociology-related

Social determinants of health (SDH), such as the background one was born and raised in and the environment in which one lives, have a direct impact on one's health. In particular, in the case of chronic cardiovascular disease, which repeats remission and exacerbation over a long period of illness, if both the patient and medical staff can understand the individual's SDH, and if a patient-participation type social prescription can be established that includes not only medication but also the enrichment of the social environment, which leads to innovative treatment methods and utilization of necessary social resources for patients, it is expected that not only health maintenance but also quality of life will be improved.
In this study, we aim to develop and test an app that uses the CBR matrix, which was introduced as a tool to identify an individual's SDH vulnerabilities in the comprehensive community-based strategy advocated mainly by the WHO, to visualize patients' SDH vulnerabilities and the SDH that require support, propose approaches to patients, and practice social prescribing to connect patients with local social resources.

*SDH: Social Determinants of Health...The health of an individual or group does not simply mean "being free of disease," but also takes into account social, economic, and local environmental factors.

It is original to use the CBR matrix in the medical field in Japan and bring the idea of complementary SDH to the medical field.

In current clinical practice, there are no tools that can centrally visualize an individual patient's SDH.
This study has the advantage of aiming to develop an unprecedented app that uses the CBR matrix to visualize patients' SDH vulnerabilities and the support they require, suggest ways to approach patients, and practice social prescribing by connecting patients with local social resources.

For patients with weak SDH, we envision a system that would be useful to both patients and medical professionals, in which we would propose ways to compensate for this through collaboration between multiple professions and industries.

The app we aim to develop in this study can also be used as a multi-disciplinary educational tool on the topic of social prescribing.
Furthermore, based on the idea that "healthcare" in the narrow sense is "nothing more than one of the tools necessary for people to live healthy lives," we believe there is potential for research to develop not only within the medical industry, but also in education, entertainment, and even collaboration between various professions, including government.

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1. Community-based rehabilitation: CBR guidelines