What is the evidence base for leadership coaching for postgraduate medical doctors? A scoping review

Coaching is increasingly used to benefit doctors' professional development. This scoping review summarises the current state of the evidence relating to workplace leadership coaching for qualified doctors.

A rapid scoping review was conducted, informed by Joanna Briggs' Institute guidelines, with protocol designed a priori. Medline, Embase and APA PsycInfo were searched for relevant articles. Search results were screened for inclusion in duplicate. Data were synthesised descriptively and thematically, mapping the existing research and identifying knowledge gaps.

A total of 5307 articles were screened, and 94 met the inclusion criteria. 15 (16%) articles were classified under 'leadership training needs assessments', 15 (16%) under 'evaluations of leadership development interventions with coaching', 18 (19%) under 'evaluations of leadership coaching interventions', 1 (1%) specifically evaluated a team leader coaching training programme, 37 (40%) were commentaries, 1 (1%) was a research protocol and 7 (7%) were reviews.The studies were positive about the role of coaching in medical leadership development and as a skill for doctors to develop. The use of the term 'coaching' was often conflated with the term 'mentoring'. Most intervention articles mentioned coaches' qualifications or training. Only three used coaches with internationally recognised accreditation qualifications, and the majority used 'faculty coaches'.

Most of the coaching components of leadership interventions, reviews and commentaries included in our review were considered successful. Coaching appears to be increasingly requested as an intervention for leadership development and identified as a training need for medical leaders.