Religion, Social Networks and Community Support: Exploring Faith-Based Approaches to Mental Health and Well-Being
A Special Issue of Religions (ISSN 2077-1444) belonging to the section "Religions and Health/Psychology/Social Sciences".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 September 2026 | Viewed by 523
Editors
Interests: culture; children; healthcare; mental health; nursing; spirituality; spiritual coping; spiritual well-being; society
Interests: healthcare; mental health; nursing; spirituality; spiritual coping; spiritual well-being
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
We are pleased to invite you to this special edition.
Health has a very close and direct relationship with a person's well-being and how they perceive themselves, their relationship with others, the environment and the transcendent (whether through means of spiritual practices or religious affiliation). Likewise, every individual influences and is influenced by the context, environment and relationships they establish throughout their lifespan. The society and community in which one lives can be a facilitator or inhibitor of spiritual well-being, with religion being a more or less formal or organized form of support and connection that emerges spontaneously in the community. The social networks established in this way are fundamental to a person's mental health and well-being and to how it deals with adverse events in various areas of life.
Although a fair number of studies explore some of the aspects mentioned above, there is currently no publication that brings all these interconnected elements together in a single volume. This Issue aims to fill that gap.
This Special Issue aims to explore faith-based approaches to mental health and well-being through interdisciplinary lenses that establish the influence of religious affiliation and practices, social networks and community-based practices on mental health and well-being.
In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following: Religious affiliation and/or religious practices impact on mental health; Religious affiliation and/or religious practices impact on spiritual well-being; Spiritual impact on individuals' mental health and spiritual well-being; Relationship between social networks and community support with mental health and/or well-being; Relationship between emergent faith-based beliefs in society and/or a community and its impact on mental health and wellbeing.
We hope that this Special Issue will stimulate new research that enhances the search for relationships between societal determinants and the mental health and well-being of individuals, considering religion and practices based on faith and spirituality as mediators.
We request that, prior to submitting a manuscript, interested authors initially submit a proposed title and an abstract of 200-300 words summarizing their intended contribution. Please send it to the Guest Editor or to the Assistant Editor of Religions, Ms. Rudy Miao (rudy.miao@mdpi.com). Abstracts will be reviewed by the Guest Editors for the purposes of ensuring proper fit within the scope of the Special Issue. Full manuscripts will undergo double-blind peer review. We look forward to receiving your contributions.
Dr. Joana Romeiro
Dr. Sílvia Caldeira
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Religions is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- health
- mental health
- religion
- religious coping
- religious practices
- society
- spirituality
- spiritual coping
- spiritual well-being
- well-being
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