Loneliness, isolation, and social support factors in post-COVID-19 mental health

Social support plays a key role in well-being, yet one of the major preventative efforts for reducing the spread of COVID-19 involves social distancing. During times of crisis, social support is emphasized as a coping mechanism. This requires many people to change their typical ways of connectedness and assumes that people have existing healthy relationships or access to technology. The purpose of this article was to explore the potential impact of COVID-19 on loneliness and well-being. Social support is an important consideration for understanding the impact of COVID-19 Psychological First Aid and Skills for Psychological Recovery, which are tools used to inform response methods to help people connect during isolation and are interventions that could be adapted to COVID-specific needs for what may be a prolonged isolation and postisolation. Given the many unknowns of COVID-19, studies are needed to understand the larger behavioral health impact to ensure resources are available, current, and evidence informed. Future studies are also needed to understand how access to technology may help buffer loneliness and isolation and thus improve the social outcomes of the current pandemic.