Background
Prospection is the ability to think about the future in order to guide behavior and to gain desirable outcomes. Even though some theoretical research on the topic exists already, there is, however, a lack of practical application.
Hypotheses/Research Questions
Therefore, to the author’s best knowledge, this study is the first one to test the concept of Prospection in group coaching. Based on Seligman, Railton, Baumeister & Sripada (2016) and MacLeod (2017) a program for Prospective Coaching was developed and evaluated among a sub-clinical sample with impaired subjective wellbeing.
Sample Characteristics and Sample Size
Specifically, a number of 29 persons with a mean age of 40.55 years (range = 19-62 years; SD = 13.57) participated in three sessions of the Prospective Coaching with a duration of three hours, respectively.
Design
In between and within-subjects design, participants completed pre, post, and follow-up questionnaires. The effects were compared to a wait-list control group with no intervention (n = 37).
Results
Linear mixed models revealed improvements in the primary variables subjective wellbeing (η²p = .14) and openness to the future (η²p = .06). Effects were likewise found in the secondary outcomes hopelessness (η²p = .11), subjective stress experience (η²p = .09), depression (η²p = .07), and optimism (η²p = .05) in the experimental group after Prospective Coaching. In addition, there were small non-significant effects in the variables self-efficacy, life satisfaction, and negative affect.
Scientific Contribution
Finally, it can be concluded that the results of this pilot study confirm the efficacy of Prospective Coaching in this sub-clinical sample. Further studies are required in order to gain more insight on the effects of Prospection within health promotion.