Promotion of well-being in work and interpersonal relationships: A scoping review of goals and meaning interventions

Abstract

With the demanding pace and challenges of the world today, there is an amplified need to identify ways of attaining well-being in the context of the workplace and relational domains of life. As work and interpersonal relationships are key domains of life where people set goals and find meaning in their search for well-being, interventions towards the promotion of well-being in these domains have become a strategic and critical priority to meet the demands of an everchanging world. Interventions to enhance well-being through goals and /or meaning in various domains of life are dispersed across disciplines, highlighting the need for a comprehensive overview of the current state of the art to advance its progress. This study aimed to explore through a scoping review existing literature on interventions to enhance goals and meaning to promote well-being in the life domains of work and interpersonal relationships. Using specific search terms in each of these domains, a literature search of scientific articles was conducted via various search platforms and databases. Thirty-eight articles were identified, scrutinized, and with the aid of clearly defined inclusion and exclusion criteria a final number of 27 articles extracted. No interventions were found on the concordance of goals and meaning in either of the two domains. Goals and meaning interventions, in both domains, used diverse strategies, leading to various hedonic and eudaimonic outcomes. Findings per study are described in terms of target groups, intervention strategies and outcomes. Through the indication of a major gap in research regarding interventions aiming at the alignment or harmonisation of goals and what is meaningful to people, this study points to further possibilities for research on the development and evaluation of interventions that aim to enhance the alignment of goals and meaning in the work and especially the interpersonal relationships domains.