Compendium of Health and Wellness Coaching: 2023 Addendum

The Journal of Integrative and Complementary Medicine recently published “Compendium of Health and Wellness Coaching: Addendum 2023.”  This is the eagerly anticipated third installment of the Compendium, and it brings us a comprehensive look at the recently published health and well-being coaching (HWC) research literature. This article adds to the original compendium publication and the 2019 Addendum. This collection of three review papers that we call the Compendium of HWC Literature covers research from 2000-2023, and provides an evidence-based anchor for the profession.  Wellcoaches supported the recent compendium effort as Margaret Moore (CEO) and Gary Sforzo (Research Advisor) were co-authors on the team publishing the paper.  Gary led the first two installments, which were supported by Wellcoaches and our vision to track the HWC literature properly.

Looking at the Compendium publication numbers (see the table) it becomes clear that HWC is a growing field with new research adding depth of knowledge while also expanding the HWC scope of practice. Many articles for using HWC intervention were added to the well-established diabetes (42 new papers) and obesity (46 new papers) categories.  Just as remarkable, 18 articles were added to the newly emerging categories of Respiratory Disease and Chronic Pain.  It was also impressive that the number of Compendium studies on patients with cancer more than doubled (from 10 to 27) after counting the 2023 Addendum articles.  In all, the 2023 Addendum provided 204 (186 + 18 in new categories) new HWC research papers to the Compendium.  It is also noteworthy that in more than 20 years of researching HWC, the rigorous randomized controlled trial (RCT) was used in the design of more than half of these studies. 

Table.  HWC Compendium Research Totals Across the Years

Year	2017	2019	2023
Condition	RCT/Total	RCT/Total	RCT/Total	RCT/Total
Cancer	7/9	1/1	6/17	14/27
Cholesterol	9/14	2/5	0/3	11/22
Diabetes	14/32	4/12	28/42	46/86
Heart Disease	7/12	6/7	11/12	24/31
Hypertension	7/14	2/7	7/14	16/35
Obesity	13/31	10/27	24/46	47/104
Wellness	15/38	6/13	12/21	33/72
Miscellaneous	NA	5/9	20/31	25/40
Total	72/150	36/81	108/186	216/417

RCT = randomized controlled trial 

As important as the sheer quantity of information provided in the 2023 Addendum, the quality was also excellent.  The summarized knowledge from the new research again strongly supports the benefits of HWC when working with patients managing diabetes, obesity, cancer, hypertension, or heart disease.  These benefits include patient-centered outcomes (e.g., self-efficacy, quality of life) and health biomarkers (e.g., blood pressure, cholesterol, glucose, body weight).  Healthy habits, such as performing more physical activity and eating more plant-based foods, were also enhanced by HWC.  By and large, “HWC was found to be an acceptable, feasible, and effective intervention for improving clinical, surrogate, self-care outcomes, and quality of life outcomes.” 

The 2023 Addendum to the HWC Compendium also identified newly established areas of HWC research. Emerging as important areas of study, working with patients having chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and working with those living with chronic pain.  Generally, patients with COPD benefited from HWC intervention by showing better self-management, including medication adherence.  Improved quality of life and mental health (e.g., depression scores) were also consistently observed in these patients after a coaching intervention.  HWC also helped patients with chronic pain who showed improved functional ability, reduced pain severity, and quality of life improvements.   These initial results are promising, but the Compendium authors added that further research is needed to better define the role of HWC in treating these patients. 

The authors of the 2023 Addendum dutifully noted the impact of the COVID pandemic on HWC research efforts during the period under study.  While being a general impediment, the pandemic did not shut down research efforts.  In fact, this challenging period of time revealed, and possibly forced, a shift toward greater use of technology and telehealth methods.  Initial findings showed promising results for using digital technologies and platforms in combination with HWC.  Generally, HWC effectiveness was maintained and not impaired while employing remote applications.  Moreover, there was evidence found for HWC assisting with stress management and resilience, while fighting job burn-out during the COVID times of heightened societal stressors.  It is wonderful to observe an ability for HWC interventions to be flexibly administered and adapting to crisis, while still effectively helping patients.

The authors indicated that this third installment of the Compendium will be the last in the current form.  We should not expect to see another addendum published in the future.  HWC is seen as a maturing field with numerous subtopic reviews being published yearly.  These are expected to inform HWC professionals well enough with no further need for a compendium-like collection to be maintained.  There is also the hope that advanced, AI-driven search engines will be able to maintain a living database of HWC literature.  Such a database, if periodically updated and housed on a prominent HWC web site, would well inform, serve, and carry the profession into the future. 

The Compendium of HWC Literature, in its three installments (2917, 2019, 2023), provides a strong research evidence base for the HWC field.  HWC coaches and researchers alike should feel comfortable using this powerful source of knowledge to inform their efforts.  Bringing such information to practice will strengthen and enhance the HWC profession.