Dear Colleagues,

Psycho-emotional health is a basic and necessary condition for the harmonious development of the individual. It is considered useful to learn to value emotions in the development of the individual's adaptability to different life situations and to discover intervention programs that promote social wellbeing, proactive individual and group attitudes, and the mental health.

Poor mental health and mental and behavioural disorders are present at all ages, for both genders, and in different cultures and population groups. Building conditions that facilitate socio-emotional or psychological wellbeing, in different contexts, translates into a positive dimension of mental health, the core of positive psychology, which, since the 1990s, has experienced a boom in research on happiness, optimism, positive emotions, and healthier personality traits. This has resulteed in a model that seeks personal excellence, a concept that includes dimensions such as autonomy, purpose of life, mastery of the environment, personal growth, self-acceptance, and positive relationships with others. Such a holistic picture also informs professionals from health, educational, and social sectors to recognize the importance and benefit of their actions for the improvement of mental health in a population, and to act as enablers, mediators, and advocates for mental health across sectors.

Given that international and national agendas regard prevention and early intervention as priorities to mitigate the impact of mental health problems, it is paramount to screen and identify groups at risk of mental and behavioural disorders and promote the mental health and socio-emotional wellbeing of individuals throughout life (e.g., children, adolescents, adults, elderly people, and other vulnerable groups).

This Special Issue of Healthcare, entitled “Mental Health Promotion and Illness Prevention in Vulnerable Populations”, welcomes original contributions relevant to this area of research across any setting, cultural background, and academic discipline with the hope of identifying work that will address groups at risk for mental disorders. Multidisciplinary research projects are especially encouraged. Authors are invited to submit research papers (quantitative, qualitative, case studies, or mixed-methods studies), concept analysis papers, quality improvement papers, and review papers. We also encourage submissions from countries or regions in which knowledge dissemination in this field has been sparse (Southern, Central, and Eastern Europe, West and Central Africa, South and Central America, etc.). The listed keywords suggest some of the many other possibilities.

Dr. Carlos Laranjeira
Dr. Ana Querido
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 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

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 single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Healthcare is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly 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 2700 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.

• intersectionality issues
• wellbeing
• mental health
• trauma, grief and loss
• behaviours and risks
• social determinants
• climate anxiety
• communities
• health behaviour and health-seeking
• quality of life
• resilience
• empowerment
• social justice
• self-efficacy
• lived experience
• holistic approaches
• health knowledge, attitudes and practice
• health literacy
• human and civil rights
• health improvement
• hope
• social inclusion and sense of community
• social participation
• community participation
• compassionate comunities
• mediators and moderators of mental health and wellbeing
• education of health and social care professionals
• stigma and ostracism
• workplace

• Mental Health Promotion and Illness Prevention in Vulnerable Populations in Healthcare (24 articles)