Assessing the fidelity of health coaching for adults with or at risk of developing type 2 diabetes: A scoping review.

Abstract

The objective of this scoping review is to identify tools used to assess fidelity of health coaching for adults with or at risk of developing type 2 diabetes (T2D). We searched electronic databases, including MEDLINE, Embase, Emcare and PsycINFO. We included studies that reported data on health coaching components and tools used to measure fidelity of health coaching for adults with or at risk of developing T2D. We identified 4796 citations through our database and manual searches, with 15 studies meeting our inclusion criteria. The most common fidelity assessment tools were checklists (n = 12; 80%), either adapted from existing tools or newly developed, with only 33.3% being validated (n = 4). This review highlighted a lack of validated and standardized tools used to measure health coaching fidelity, raising concerns about validity and reliability of the findings. Future research is needed to support the development of validated tools and facilitate the standardization of health coaching delivery. Researchers and health care practitioners will gain valuable insights from our scoping review as it provides a comprehensive overview of health coaching fidelity tools. This is timely as health coaching is emerging as an effective strategy for supporting patients in adopting and sustaining healthy behaviours.