Development and Evaluation of a Prospective Group Coaching Program: Increasing Well-Being and Openness to the Future in a Subclinical Sample

Abstract

Prospection is the ability to think about the future in order to guide behavior and gain desirable outcomes. Although theoretical research on the topic exists, there is a lack of practical application. We developed and evaluated a prospective coaching program in a subclinical sample with limited subjective well-being. Twenty-nine participants (Mage = 40.6 years, SD = 13.6; range 19–62 years) participated in three 3-h sessions of a prospective coaching intervention. In a between- and within-subject design, participants completed preintervention, postintervention, and follow-up questionnaires. We compared the effects to those in a waitlist control group with no intervention (n = 37). Linear mixed models revealed improvements in the primary variables subjective well-being and openness to the future. We also found effects in the secondary outcomes hopelessness, subjective stress, depression, positive affect, and optimism in the experimental group, but not in the waiting list control group. This pilot study, to our knowledge, is the first to prove the effectiveness of a prospective group coaching program on relevant outcomes in a subclinical sample. Further studies, for instance, with a larger sample, are needed to gain more insight on the effects of prospection in mental health promotion.