Special Issue

Non-pharmacological Interventions Targeting Chronic Illness and Wellness in Older Adults

Submission Deadline: March 31, 2027 (Open) Submit Now

Guest Editor

Leila Kozak, PhD

Professor, Family Medicine Department, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, WA, USA;
Integrative Palliative Care Institute, Redmond, WA, USA

Website | E-Mail

Research Interests: Psycho-oncology; supportive care; functional medicine; geriatrics; aging; health psychology; older adults; lifestyle medicine; dementia; Alzheimer's

About This Topic

Global populations are rapidly aging, with exponentially larger groups of older adults seeking supportive care for a variety of ailments, mostly chronic diseases that are associated to lifestyle. Caring for these older generations represents a new challenge for medicine, because the bulk of the conditions represent chronic illnesses that require lifestyle modifications that are more complex than drug or surgical-based interventions. In addition, Baby Boomers and successive generations have very different expectations with regards to health and wellbeing than their predecessors. As a result, promotion of healthy aging by the integration of nutrition, exercise modalities and self-care interventions  represent a crucial paradigm that must be considered at the core of supporting health and wellbeing in these growing segment of the population,   A variety of non-pharmacological and comprehensive medical interventions are included in these lifestyle interventions, such as somatic therapy, exercise, nutrition, psychosocial and spiritual support, relationship education approaches as well as traditional and complementary medicine methods. New high-tech approaches such as virtual reality, vagal nerve stimulation, and low-level laser therapy have also emerged as evidence-based interventions that can play a significant role in improving symptom management and comfort when used for conditions commonly experienced by aging adults. These interventions may play a significant role in maintaining the physical, emotional and mental health of older people and enhancing their quality of life.

This special issue welcomes the submission of original research, reviews, clinical studies, and evidence-based practice reports, with a focus on safe, effective, and innovative non-pharmacological interventions that may support older adults in their quest for achieving high quality of life during their aging process.

Keywords

Healthy aging; older adults; non-pharmacological intervention; complementary and integrative medicine; lifestyle medicine; mind–body interventions; self-care

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted through the LIDSEN Submission System. Detailed information on manuscript preparation and submission is available in the Instructions for Authors. All submitted articles will be thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process and will be processed following the Editorial Process and Quality Control policy. Upon acceptance, the article will be immediately published in a regular issue of the journal and will be listed together on the special issue website, with a label that the article belongs to the Special Issue. LIDSEN distributes articles under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) License in an open-access model. The authors own the copyright to the article, and the article can be free to access, distribute, and reuse provided that the original work is correctly cited.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). Research articles and review articles are highly invited. Authors are encouraged to send the tentative title and abstract of the planned paper to the Editorial Office (icm@lidsen.com) for record. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the Editorial Office.

Welcome your submission!