Skip to main content

Main menu

  • Home
  • Content
    • Current issue
    • Past issues
    • Healthy You
    • Job listings
    • Q&As
    • Special sections
  • Multimedia
    • Quiz
    • Podcasts
    • Videos
    • App
  • FAQs
    • Advertising
    • Subscriptions
    • For APHA members
    • Internships
    • Change of address
  • About
    • About The Nation's Health
    • Submissions
    • Permissions
    • Purchase articles
    • Join APHA
  • Contact us
    • Feedback
  • APHA
    • AJPH
    • NPHW

User menu

  • My alerts

Search

  • Advanced search
The Nation's Health
  • APHA
    • AJPH
    • NPHW
  • My alerts
The Nation's Health

Advanced Search

  • Home
  • Content
    • Current issue
    • Past issues
    • Healthy You
    • Job listings
    • Q&As
    • Special sections
  • Multimedia
    • Quiz
    • Podcasts
    • Videos
    • App
  • FAQs
    • Advertising
    • Subscriptions
    • For APHA members
    • Internships
    • Change of address
  • About
    • About The Nation's Health
    • Submissions
    • Permissions
    • Purchase articles
    • Join APHA
  • Contact us
    • Feedback
  • Follow The Nation's Health on Twitter
  • Follow APHA on Twitter
  • Visit APHA on Facebook
  • Follow APHA on Youtube
  • Follow APHA on Instagram
  • Follow The Nation's Health RSS feeds
NewsNation

Public health concerned about social isolation during pandemic

Mark Barna
The Nation's Health January 2022, 51 (10) 31;
Mark Barna
  • Search for this author on this site

At age 17, Germán Paradi was attacked and shot in the neck, with injuries that led to quadriplegia. As a young adult, he advocated for people with disabilities, and in 2019 he won the Speak Up for Better Health award, given by the Center for Consumer Engagement in Health Innovation.

“People with disabilities across the ages need to be recognized as experiencing social isolation,” Paradi said during APHA’s 2021 Annual Meeting and Expo in October. “It is a matter of life and death to have a social connection.”

A summer 2020 survey from the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, administered a few months after distancing recommendations were put in place because of the COVID-19 pandemic, found 36% of people reported feeling lonely “frequently” or “almost all the time.” And 61% of young adults ages 18 to 25 reported extreme levels of loneliness. The pandemic has increased isolation, as more people worked from home, students took remote college classes and people avoided social gatherings because of health risks.

That increase is a concern to health professionals, as social isolation has been associated with negatively impacting general health and contributing to premature mortality. It may also have an effect on immune response and increase risk of COVID-19 infection, according to Edward Garcia, MHS, founder and executive director of the Foundation for Social Connection.

Humans are social beings, and positive connections with others increase well-being and quality of life, according to Kim Van Orden, PhD, a psychologist and healthy aging researcher at the University of Rochester Medical Center.

Van Orden’s work mostly involves social isolation among older adults. She said programs that support volunteering, group projects and peer companionship show promise for engaging seniors.

But though behavior interventions can reduce loneliness and social isolation, “the bad news is we lack replication, clarity on mechanism, as many studies do not enroll people who are lonely or isolated,” Van Orden said.

Another problem is that people with disabilities are often not part of the conversation on mental health or social isolation, Paradi, co-executive director of the Partnership for Inclusive Disaster Strategies, said. Still, during the pandemic, he saw the positive impacts of telehealth sessions and online social networks on people with disabilities, offering hope.

“We need a standardized measurement in isolation and loneliness, and a national strategy that supports (mental health) in communities and states,” Garcia said.

For more information on strategies for people with special needs during disasters, visit https://disasterstrategies.org.

A version of this story was published on APHA’s Annual Meeting Blog.

  • Copyright The Nation’s Health, American Public Health Association
PreviousNext
Back to top

In this issue

The Nation's Health: 51 (10)
The Nation's Health
Vol. 51, Issue 10
January 2022
  • Table of Contents
  • Table of Contents (PDF)
  • Index by author
  • Complete Issue (PDF)

Healthy You

Print
Article Alerts
Sign In to Email Alerts with your Email Address
Email Article
We do not capture any email addresses.
Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas.
Public health concerned about social isolation during pandemic
(Your Name) has sent you a message from The Nation's Health
(Your Name) thought you would like to see this item on The Nation's Health website.
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
Citation Tools
Public health concerned about social isolation during pandemic
Mark Barna
The Nation's Health January 2022, 51 (10) 31;

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero
Share
Public health concerned about social isolation during pandemic
Mark Barna
The Nation's Health January 2022, 51 (10) 31;
del.icio.us logo Digg logo Reddit logo Twitter logo Facebook logo Google logo Mendeley logo
Tweet Widget Facebook Like LinkedIn logo

Jump to section

  • Top

More in this TOC Section

  • ‘Photovoice’ projects promote youth advocacy in public health
  • Q&A: EPA elevating environmental justice and civil rights
  • Educators use novel ways to engage youth on climate health issues
Show more Nation

Popular features

  • Healthy You
  • Special sections
  • Q&As
  • Quiz
  • Podcasts

FAQs

  • Advertising
  • Subscriptions
  • For APHA members
  • Submissions
  • Change of address

APHA

  • Join APHA
  • Annual Meeting
  • NPHW
  • AJPH
  • Get Ready
  • Contact APHA
  • Privacy policy

© 2023 The Nation's Health

Powered by HighWire