Bridging Connections: Emerging Approaches to Alleviate Loneliness

Loneliness is increasingly recognized as a pressing public health issue that threatens individual mental health, physical health and well-being and poses a significant healthcare burden. Despite growing calls from governments and public health bodies to tackle loneliness, there is still much to be explored regarding the role of different environmental factors that increase the risk of experiencing loneliness in different population groups. In addition, there is a lack of robust studies measuring the effectiveness of existing interventions and their ability to address this issue across different populations. Further, while recent studies have highlighted experiences of loneliness among populations such as the young people, older adults, terminally ill patients, LGBTQ communities, carers, and refugees, the relevance and appropriateness of existing interventions for these groups have not been widely investigated. As existing research has focused on individual-level interventions, the potential of population-level strategies to address upstream drivers of loneliness are particularly poorly understood.

This Research Topic aims to explore new directions to understand, prevent and reduce loneliness. The goal is to investigate how targeted initiatives can mitigate loneliness and societal risk factors for loneliness across diverse populations. Central to this exploration are approaches targeting contextual and environmental factors that contribute to loneliness, such as the built environment, workplace and organizational practices, and early life risk factors for loneliness. By examining these facets, the objective is to identify actionable and inclusive avenues that effectively address loneliness and prevent its negative impact on health.

To gather further insights in reducing loneliness and loneliness risk factors using new approaches, we welcome articles addressing, but not limited to, the following themes:
· Loneliness in the young population, including children, adolescents, and young adults either in education or employment (18 -25)
· Risk factors for and reducing loneliness in specific demographic groups such as young people, LGBTQ individuals, carers, terminally ill patients, and refugees.
Workplace strategies and organisational interventions aiming to combat loneliness.
· How the built environment can be designed to reduce loneliness and isolation.
· Interventions aiming to prevent loneliness and improve social connection early in life.
· The role of government strategies and policy change in loneliness.
· The impact of health educational programs on loneliness.
· Interventions targeting other structural, societal, or institutional drivers of loneliness.
· Papers using large-scale longitudinal quantitative data are especially encouraged.

We particularly encourage submissions investigating societal risk factors of loneliness and potential interventions, addressing possible new avenues for reducing loneliness in the population. Incorporating these elements, contributions are encouraged to evaluate both the successes and limitations of current approaches, provide data-driven recommendations, and propose frameworks that can be implemented across different environmental and demographic contexts.