We’re developing the world’s first social connection guidelines!
In 1942, Canada led the world by developing nutrition guidelines that provided public health guidance for wartime food rationing. Decades later, Canada developed physical activity guidelines to address soaring levels of sedentary behaviour. More recently, Canadian researchers developed lower-risk substance use guidelines for cannabis and alcohol use. These and other evidence-based guidelines have provided straightforward strategies for healthy living and are key tools for clinical and public health practice.
In the wake of COVID-19, declines in mental and social well-being have highlighted the urgent need for Social Connection Guidelines. That’s why we’re developing such guidelines in partnership with the GenWell Project, the Public Health Agency of Canada, and a wide range of community-based organizations and universities across Canada and around the world. Such guidelines, which will be the first of their kind developed globally, will raise awareness regarding the importance of social connection as a key determinant of health and well-being.
Help us develop guidelines for people like you!
We want to hear from you to ensure that our guidelines are based on the lives and experiences of real people. If you’re interested in participating in a focus group to help us develop public health guidelines for social connection, please sign up by clicking the button below:
To develop the world’s first Social Connection Guidelines, we will undertake an interdisciplinary, mixed-methods approach that includes the evaluation of existing evidence and the collection of new data.
Altogether, we have planned the development of dozens of evidence briefs to inform the development of our guidelines. Below you will find a few examples of those that will be used to inform our guideline development process. These briefs will be used to develop the final social connection guidelines in consultations with community members and experts.
Please email kcard@sfu.ca for more information on how to contribute to an evidence brief or submit an evidence brief.
Expert Directory
Marja Aartsen
Research Professor, Oslo Metropolitan University
Lara Aknin
Professor, Simon Fraser University
Juan Rafael Albertorio
Senior Advisor, Foundation for Social Connection
Daniel Aldrich
Professor, Northeastern University
Stav Atir
Professor, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Margarita Azmitia
Professor, University of California Santa Cruz
Johanna Badcock
Professor, The University of Western Australia
Namrata Bagaria
Researcher, University of Ottawa
Cecilia Benoit
Sociologists, Scientist & Professor Emerita, University of Victoria
Dale A. Blyth
Professor Emeritus, University of Minnesota
Pete Bombaci
Founder, Executive Director, The GenWell Project
Sydney Elaine Butler
Administrator, Accessible Creates
Kiffer Card
Assistant Professor, Simon Fraser University
Cheryl Carmichael
Associate Professor of Psychology, CUNY Brooklyn College & Graduate Center
Bernie Carter
Professor, Edge Hill University
Anne-Nicole Casey
Postdoctoral researcher, University of New South Wales
Frances Chen
Associate Professor, University of British Columbia
Jennifer Chipps
Professor, University of the Western Cape
Hanne Collins
Doctoral Candidate, Harvard Business School
Robert J. Coplan
Chancellor's Professor, Carleton University
Theodore D Cosco
Associate Professor, Simon Fraser University
Steven Crane
Researcher, Stanford University
Tegan Cruwys
Associate Professor & Clinical Psychologist, Australian National University
Suzanne Degges-White
Professor and Chair, Northern Illinois University
Erin Dej
Associate Professor, Wilfrid Laurier University
Enrico DiTommaso
Professor, University of New Brunswick
David Dodell-Feder
Assistant Professor, University of Rochester
Nicole Dukers-Muijrers
Epidemiologist Public Health, Maastricht University and Public Health Service
Aliki Economides
Clinical Psychologist, CARE Medical Institute
Mareike Ernst
Psychologist, Tenure-track position in psychotherapy research, University of Klagenfurt
Allison Farrell
Assistant Professor, Miami University
Kory Floyd
Professor of Communication, University of Arizona
Dr Delia Fuhrmann
Lecturer in Psychology, King's College London
Marie-Pierre Gagnon
Professor, Laval University
Edward Garcia
Founder/Executive, Foundation for Social Connection
Troy Glover
Professor, University of Waterloo
Neeru Gupta
Professor, University of New Brunswick
Gloria Gutman
Professor Emerita Gerontology, Simon Fraser University
Jeffrey Hall
Professor, University of Kansas
Cheryl Harasymchuk
Professor, Carleton University
Maxwell Hartt
Assistant Professor, Queen's University
Catherine Haslam
Professor of Clinical Psychology, University of Queensland
Peter Helm
Assistant Professor, Montana State Univerity
Robin Hewings
Programme Director, Campaign to End Loneliness
Taylor Hill
Researcher, The University of Dundee
Amanda Jill Holmstrom
Professor, Michigan State University
Julianne Holt-Lunstad
Professor, Brigham Young University
Simon C. Hunter
Professor, Glasgow Caledonian University
Josephine A. Igwacho
Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner, Minneapolis VA
Hans Rocha IJzerman
Researcher, Université Grenoble Alpes
Steve Joordens
Professor of Psychology, University of Toronto
Anton Kall
Psychologist, Linköping University
Heather Keam
Associate Director Deepening Community, Tamarack Institute
Kasley Killam
Executive Director, Social Health Labs
Miriam Kirmayer
Clinical Psychologist, Private Practice
Gotaro Kojima
Clinician-Scientist, Well Medical Group
Robert Kraut
Professor, Carnegie Mellon University
Adam Kuczynski
Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Washington School of Medicine
Kostadin Kushlev
Assistant Professor, Georgetown University
Elvira Lara
Assistant Professor, Universidad Complutense de Madrid
Mathias Lasgaard
Senior Scientist, Head of Program, Psychologist, Central Denmar Region
Yeeun Archer Lee
Researcher, University of British columbia
William Leever
Pediatric Psychologist, Nationwide Children's Hospital
Diego De Leo
Professor, Griffith University
Jennifer Leong
Registered Social Worker & Psychotherapist, Private Practice
Michelle Lim
Associate Professor & Clinical Psychologist, University of Sydney
Emily Long
Researcher, University of Glasgow
Heather Love
Assistant Professor in Human Development and Family Studies, University of Alabama
Marlies Maes
Assistant Professor, Utrecht University
William Magee
Associate Professor, Sociology, University of Toronto
Farhana Mann
Psychiatrist, University College London
Phil McAuliffe
Creator, The Loneliness Guy
Kate Mulligan
Assistant Professor, University of Toronto
Nancy Newall
Associate Professor, Brandon University
Rebecca Nowland
Senior Research Fellow, University of Central Lancashire
John Oliffe
Professor, University of British Columbia
Terri Orbuch
Sociologist, Social Psychologist, Professor, Oakland University
Heather Orpana
Senior Research Scientist, Public Health Agency of Canada
Callista Ottoni
Researcher, University of British Columbia
Heather Palmer
Researcher, Maximum Capacity Inc
Natalie Pennington
Assistant Professor, Colorado State University
Carla Perissinotto
Professor of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco
Rose Perry
Founder, Social Creatures Inc.
Tiffany Petricini
Assistant Professor, Penn State University
Kathryn Phillips
Associate Professor, Fairfield University
Elizabeth Pinel
Full Professor, University of Vermont
Pamela Qualter
Professor of Psychology for Education, University of Manchester
Anjali Rameshbabu
Health-Social Psychologist, Founder of Health2Wellbeing
Colter D. Ray
Assistant Professor of Communication, University of Tampa
Julie Radlauer-Doerfler
Professor, University of South Florida
Laura Riddleston
Researcher, Queen Mary University of London
Theodore F Robles
Professor, UCLA Department of Psychology
Charlotte Roddick
Researcher, University of British Columbia
Ami Rokach
Psychologist, York University, Toronto
Kathy Rovito
Faculty Director, Rollins College in Winter Park
Amene Saghazadeh
Researcher, Tehran University of Medical Sciences
Gillian Sandstrom
Senior Lecturer, University of Sussex
Iina Savolainen
Postdoctoral Research Fellow, social psychology, Tampere University, Finland
Miranda T. Schram
Associate Professor, Maastricht University Medical Center
Chris Segrin
Professor, Univ of Arizona
Laura Sels
Senior postdoctoral research fellow, Ghent University
Roz Shafran
Professor, University College London
Syed Sarwar Shah
Researcher, Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Aparna Shankar
Professor, FLAME University, India
Shayna Skakoon-Sparling
Applied Social Psychologist, Assistant Professor, University of Guelph
Marco Solmi
MD, PhD, Psychiatrist, Associate Professor of Psychiatry, University of Ottawa
Erica Solway
Deputy Director, University of Michigan
Meridith Sones
Researcher, Simon Fraser University
Susan Sprecher
Distinguished Professor, Sociology/Social Psychology
Helen Stain
Professor, Leeds Trinity University
Masanori Takano
Computational Social Science Researcher, CyberAgent, Inc.
Laurie Ann Theeke
Professor and Associate Dean, The George Washington University
Maximiliane Uhlich
Researcher, University of Basel
Mark Van Ryzin
Research Associate Professor, University of Oregon
Theo van Tilburg
Professor, Vrije Universiteit
Danielle Varda
Associate Professor, University of Colorado, Denver
Christina R. Victor
Professor, Brunel University London
Roberta L. Woodgate
Distinguished Professor, University of Manitoba
Risa Wilkerson,
Executive Director, Healthy Places by Design
Anita Williams Woolley
Professor, Carnegie Mellon University
Keming Yang
Associate Professor of Sociology, University of Durham
Project Partners
Timeline & Milestones
November 2021
Researchers begin convening to develop proposals for national social connection guidelines.
[ Read more ]
June 2022
Canadian Institutes for Health Research fund the development of public health guidelines for social health.
August 2022
Funding for the development of social connection guidelines announced by GenWell.
[ Read more ]
September 2022
Evidence reviews for guidelines begin.
March 2023
Holt-Lundstad (2023) calls for the development of national health guidelines for social connection.
[ Read more ]
September 2023
The interim report on results from round two of the consensus-building exercise is completed
( Read more)
October 2023
Interim Report presented at GenWell’s Human Connection Conference and a preliminary draft of guidelines is produced.
[ Read more ]
May 2023
Global experts on social connection and health are convened for a consensus-building study to identify potential guidelines.
[ Read more ]
August 2023
Expert advisors produce a list of potential guidelines and rate their value in a second round of consensus building
( Read more )
December 2024
Draft preliminary guidelines are produced and presented to the expert advisory group to assess consensus support
( Read more)
January 2024
Public consultations on social connection guidelines begin.
July 2024
Research studying national adherence to social connection guidelines in Canada begins as part of the Canadian Social Connection Survey.
How’s your social health?
Interested in understanding more about your social health? In 2019, our team developed the GenWell Social Health Assessment tool as a short quiz to help people evaluate their social health..
