Healthy social connections—belongingness and relatedness to others—are considered to
be basic human needs [1]. Yet, many societies are plagued with growing levels of isolation …

2 INTRODUCTION Loneliness, the subjective perception of social disconnectedness, is
emerging as a public health crisis. In 2018, approximately 50 million US adults aged≥ 45 …

Already a significant public health problem prior to the COVID-19 pandemic due to its
associations with low wellbeing, poor mental and physical health and premature mortality …

Well before distancing and quarantine mandates, individualistic cultural values and stratified
structural conditions had led to a public health epidemic of loneliness. Given unprecedented …

Loneliness and social isolation have been identified as critical global health issues in the
aftermath of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) crisis. While there is robust scientific …

employment, the realization that we are aging and less mobile. It is a stressful disconnect
between desired and actual levels of social interaction. When people struggle to describe …

The COVID-19 pandemic has direct effects on people's health and the number of deaths due
to the virus has reached more than a million (WHO, 2020a). In addition, the pandemic and …

Loneliness and social isolation are critical for health and wellbeing. Social isolation is a well-
established social determinant of health, and its ill effects have been wellrecognized for …

Loneliness is often conceptualized as a lack of quality relationships with friends and family.
Other scholars have highlighted the importance of weak ties, or even strangers, for a sense …

Rationale Increasingly, loneliness is being recognised as a serious problem with detrimental
effects on health, as well as on social cohesion and community trust. To effectively tackle this …