Overview of global health and wellness coaching training programmes

Abstract

Health and wellness coaching (HWC) has emerged as an important vocation that complements traditional primary care and caregiving services. Although prior studies have reviewed HWC scientific literature, there is an apparent lack of literature on the global HWC training programmes. In this paper, we attempt to address this gap by analysing data pertaining to HWC training programmes offered across the globe. General-purpose search engine Google was used for finding HWC training programmes in June 2018. We identified 224 relevant training programmes and the required data were manually extracted from the corresponding websites. Findings indicate that HWC training is predominant in North America, UK, and Australia, with online learning as the most used delivery mode. Certificate programmes are widely offered by training institutes and academic organisations compared to degree programmes, with only a meagre number of programmes recognized by International Consortium for Health & Wellness Coaching (ICHWC) and International Coach Federation (ICF). HWC programmes seem to be focused on training coaches to help clients primarily with conditions and ailments, such as diabetes, stress, and other chronic diseases. However, there is only a very small number of HWC training programmes on eldercare found.