Mental health and wellbeing are fundamental to overall quality of life, influencing how individuals think, feel, and interact across all stages of life. This report provides a summary of a two-phase evidence review that aimed to understand evidence pertaining to programs or interventions designed to promote mental or psychological wellbeing, prevent mental ill health, facilitate early intervention, or support the recovery from mental illness across the lifespan. Phase 1 comprised a systematic review of umbrella reviews; and phase 2 a systematic review of systematic reviews of meta-analyses. Four databases were searched for each phase (Web of Science, PubMed, Medline, and PsycInfo) from inception to February 2024. Phase 1 included 14 umbrella reviews capturing 591 systematic reviews or meta-analyses. Phase 2 included 220 systematic reviews or meta-analyses. Population groups in each phase included young people (18 years), University or College students, audults, older adults, people from sexual and/or gender minorities, carers, and people living with a disability. Programs or interventions included creative therapies or programs, educational programs, green space interventions, family or parenting programs, psychological and/or psychosocial programs, and physical or spiritually-focused therapies. A narrative synthesis of intervention/program efficacy for the studied population groups is provided and significant gaps highlighted.
Fortnum et al. (Mon,) studied this question.