BACKGROUND Research on frequent or avoidable hospital admission has not focussed on the perspectives of service providers or rural settings. The link between social isolation and admission is not well explored, although social isolation is known to have negative health effects. OBJECTIVE This paper reports further analysis from a study investigating service providers' perspectives on factors ...

BACKGROUND Social isolation in medical students is a subjective experience that may influence medical career decision making. Rural self-efficacy has been shown to influence rural career intentions following a rural clinical placement, however its impact on social isolation during a rural clinical placement has not been previously modeled. The objective of this study is to explore whether self-...

The motivation to seek social contact may arise from either positive or negative emotional states, as social interaction can be rewarding and social isolation can be aversive. While ventral tegmental area (VTA) dopamine (DA) neurons may mediate social reward, a cellular substrate for the negative affective state of loneliness has remained elusive. Here, we identify a functional role for DA neur...