Long-term effectiveness of health coaching in rehabilitation and prevention: A systematic review

Objective
This systematic review aims to evaluate the long-term effectiveness of health coaching interventions in rehabilitation and prevention.
Methods
Databases and a manual search were used to identify randomized controlled trials (RCTs) in English through to June 2015. Studies were included if: (1) the target population were people of employment age, (2) the intervention addressed either people suffering from a diagnosed disease or healthy people, (3) the intervention included health coaching to influence health-related outcomes and/or processes and (4) the study had a follow-up of at least 24 weeks after the end of the intervention period.
Results
Out of 90 RCTs, 14 studies were selected using the inclusion criteria: seven were designed for the rehabilitative setting and seven for the preventive setting. Three studies of each setting found statistically significant long-term effectiveness.
Conclusions
The high number of studies evaluating health coaching underlines the relevance of this approach. Despite the increasing popularity of health coaching, a research gap exists in regard to its long-term effectiveness.
Practice implications
It is of utmost importance to consider the sustainability already during planning of health coaching interventions. The involvement of the target group and the setting seems to be a promising strategy.