Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue of Healthcare focuses on the continuum of social connectedness and isolation as related to health, well-being, resiliency, illness, and recovery. This area is a new foci of interest of the National Institute of Health in the United States, but has global implications. We are living in an age defined by advanced technology and social media, physical and social distancing of family and friends due to changing family structures, work-related influences, as well as the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on social well-being. Such factors are likely to have negative health effects, manifested in a sense of isolation and resulting in increased loneliness, depression, social withdrawal, and substance use and misuse with implications for suicidal ideation and increased morbidity and mortality.

The focus of this Special Issue will be on the complex biopsychosocial mechanisms resulting in the body’s regulation or dysregulation and behaviors in response to social connectedness versus isolation. This Special Issue seeks articles that will help to describe and explain the experiences of social connectedness and social isolation and their impact on health. Equally valued will be articles that explore novel interventions promoting social connectedness and strengthening individual health, well-being, and recovery from illness, as well as supporting group function.

As a relatively new area of research, the study of social connectedness and isolation will be informed by publications that advance the concepts (i.e., antecedents, attributes, dimensions, and outcomes) and their measurement. At different developmental timepoints, researchers will look for contextual elements, such as behavioral and environmental factors, that promote or mitigate unfavorable consequences in terms of health, well-being, resiliency, illness, and recovery. In addition, articles which discuss health disparities and social determinants of health, such as gender and racial/ethnic differences, socioeconomic status, mental illness, substance use, recovery status, as well as geographic location relative to social connectedness and isolation, will be of interest.

We look forward to your scholarly contributions which advance the scientific knowledge base and explore multifactorial interventions relative to the individual, group, and societal implications of social connectedness and isolation. Understanding the relationship among social connectedness, isolation, health, well-being, resiliency, illness, and recovery transcends all cultures and all populations, extending beyond space and time, and with relevance to human history.

Prof. Dr. Deborah Witt Sherman
Dr. Alliete Rodriguez Alfano
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Healthcare is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• social connectedness
• isolation
• health
• resiliency
• recovery
• interventions