Joan DelFattore writes about living single in a couples-oriented culture, with emphasis on improving access to health care for adults who are unmarried either by choice or by circumstance. A peer-reviewed scholarly article was published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2019, showing that patients with cancer are more likely to receive surgery or radiotherapy if they're currently married than if they're divorced, separated, widowed, or never married. Research and personal essays have also appeared in the Washington Post, Herald Tribune, Psychology Today, Health Psychologist, and many more. She gave a TedX talk, "Sick While Single Don't Die of Discrimination," as well as doing a podcast for Cure and an interview for All Things Considered.

Her earlier publications include three books with Yale University Press and dozens of articles, mostly about freedom of speech. Her work has won awards from the American Library Association, the American Educational Research Association, and the Spencer Foundation, among others. In addition to speaking at conferences and events throughout the country, she's appeared on dozens of talk shows, notably 20/20, Radio Times, Fresh Air, Talk of the Nation, All Things Considered, and the Diane Rehm Show. She holds a Ph.D. in English and an M.S. in clinical psychology from Penn State University, and was a professor at the University of Delaware for more than thirty years.

After retiring in 2014, DelFattore established a Writing as Healing program at the Christiana Care Health System in Delaware, teaching research-based techniques for using writing to reduce stress and improve quality of life. The program has served more than 600 patients, caregivers, and staff, and in 2017, she added narrative medicine workshops for physicians. She has also created a Reflective Healing website offering a brief explanation of therapeutic uses of reflective writing, thoughtful reading of literature, and story-telling. The website also provides links to podcasts, videos, books, medical and psychological studies, and other resources.

DelFattore is an active member of the Cosmos Club, the Wilmington (Delaware) Rotary Club, the International Women's Forum, Mystery Writers of America (New York chapter), and the Authors Guild. She divides her time between her home in Newark, Delaware, and New York City.