Strategies for improving happiness in older adults: A systematic review of trials

As the global population of older adults expands, promoting happiness has become a key factor in enhancing mental health and quality of life. Despite increasing interest, few systematic reviews have comprehensively assessed interventions aimed at improving happiness among community-dwelling older adults.

Following Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) 2020 guidelines, this review searched PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and PsycINFO for studies published between January 2015 and May 2024. Thirty-one eligible studies (16 RCTs and 15 QES), involving 3428 participants, met the inclusion criteria and were synthesized narratively. .

Interventions were classified into six categories: physical activities (n = 6), psychological/relaxation techniques (n = 13), artistic activities (n = 4), health promotion (n = 2), leisure activities (n = 4), and others (digital/combined; n = 2). Most interventions reported significant increases in happiness and well-being, with psychological and group-based programs demonstrating the most substantial and consistent effects (often with large effect sizes, such as Cohen's d> 0.80). .

These findings support the potential of diverse strategies, especially group psychological methods, to enhance happiness in community-dwelling older adults. Future research should prioritize the development of culturally adapted, scalable programs supported by rigorous long-term evaluations and standardized effect-size reporting to validate sustainability and facilitate broader implementation.