Dementia is a complex medical condition that poses significant challenges to healthcare systems and support services. People living with dementia (PLWD) and their carers experience complex needs often exacerbated by social isolation and challenges in accessing support. Social prescribing (SP) seeks to enable PLWD and their carers to access community and voluntary sector resources to support them address such needs. Existing research, however, does not describe what SP interventions are currently in place in dementia care. Little is known about the needs these interventions are designed to address, the reasons that lead PLWD and their carers to participate in them, their effectiveness and the extent to which they could increase positive health outcomes if adopted and how.

A complex intervention systematic review of SP for PLWD and/or their carers will be conducted using an iterative logic model approach. Six electronic (MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycINFO, CINAHL, Scopus and Cochrane/CENTRAL) and two grey literature databases (EThOS and CORE) were searched for publications between 1 January 2003 and June 2023, supplemented by handsearching of reference lists of included studies. Study selection, data extraction and risk of bias assessment, using Gough’s Weight of Evidence Framework, will be independently performed by two reviewers. A narrative approach will be employed to synthesise and report quantitative and qualitative data. Reporting will be informed by the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Complex Interventions extension statement and checklist.

No ethical approval is required due to this systematic review operating only with secondary sources. Findings will be disseminated through peer-reviewed publications, conference presentations and meetings with key stakeholders including healthcare professionals, patient and carer groups, community organisations (eg, the Social Prescribing Network and the Evidence Collaborative at the National Academy for Social Prescribing), policymakers and funding bodies.

CRD42023428625.

Calm rooms have been developed and implemented in psychiatric inpatient care settings to offer patients a dedicated space for relaxation in a convenient and safe environment. Recent technology developments have enabled virtual reality (VR) equivalents of calm rooms that can be feasibly deployed in psychiatric care settings. While research has shown VR environments to be efficacious in inducing relaxation, little is known how these virtual calm rooms are perceived by patients. The aim of this study was to elucidate patient experiences of using a VR calm room in a psychiatric inpatient setting.

Qualitative interview study. Semi-structured interviews were analysed using qualitive inductive content analysis, which focuses on the interpretation of texts for making replicable and valid inferences.

Swedish hospital psychiatric inpatient care setting with a wireless, three degrees-of-freedom VR head-mounted display running a calm room application simulating nature environment.

20 adult patients (12 women) with bipolar disorder (n=18) or unipolar depression (n=2).

Participants experienced the use of the VR calm room as having a positive impact on them, inducing awareness, calmness and well-being. They were thankful to be offered a non-pharmacological alternative for anxiety relief. Participants also expressed that they had some concerns about how they would react emotionally before using the VR device. However, after use, they highlighted that their overall experience was positive. They also expressed that they could see potential for further development of VR technology in psychiatric care.

VR technology has the potential to solve pressing logistic issues in offering calm rooms in psychiatric inpatient care. VR calm rooms appear to be appreciated by psychiatric inpatients, who value their accessibility, convenience and variety of modalities offered. Participants perceived an increase in their well-being after use.