Attitudes, knowledge and understanding towards mind-body practices as an asset for social prescribing in higher education

Evidence is growing to support mind-body practices (e.g. yoga) as a therapeutic intervention for many health conditions. In the UK, yoga is promoted as a social prescription asset by the National Health Service (NHS), yet the factors influencing its implementation are poorly understood. This study explored the attitudes, knowledge and understanding of mind-body practices as a social prescribing asset amongst health science populations within higher education. Twenty-six health science staff and students completed an online questionnaire. Data analysis used a mixed-methods approach, employing thematic analysis for qualitative data and calculating the net promoter score (NPS) to assess participants' inclination to recommend mind-body practices as a social prescribing asset. Nineteen participants (73%) were aware of the term 'social prescription' and understood it to be a non-clinical, community-based alternative to medication. Whilst participants were aware of the physical benefits of mind-body practices, particularly yoga, they lacked awareness of the social, emotional, and spiritual benefits. Although 42% of participants would recommend mind-body practices as a social prescribing asset (NPS of 15), the opposite was true for yoga (NPS of -15), potentially due to poor knowledge or personal engagement with yoga. This study underlines the importance of increasing understanding and promoting yoga as an adjuvant mind-body practice to achieve social, emotional, and spiritual benefits. Implementing educational strategies to increase knowledge of mind-body practices and yoga, with a focus on social prescribing practice, may help to improve future referral pathways in practice in line with the NHS long term plan.