This rapid review set out to synthesise how goal-setting and goal attainment have been operationalised within interventions that aim to promote social connection, increase social participation, or reduce loneliness or social isolation among older adults. The review also sought to identify recurring implementation components of these approaches that may inform future intervention design.
The review searched MEDLINE (via PubMed) and CINAHL (via EBSCOhost). Reference lists of included studies were screened to locate additional relevant reports. Studies were eligible if they evaluated interventions that incorporated goal-setting or goal-attainment support and involved adults aged 60 years or older, or populations identified as older adults by the study authors. Eligible study designs included quantitative, qualitative and mixed-methods intervention studies. Excluded were observational studies without an intervention component, protocols without outcome data, conference abstracts and reports not published in English.
Data were extracted using a structured framework capturing study characteristics, intervention context, how goal-setting and goal-attainment support were delivered, delivery characteristics, and relevant outcomes. Findings were synthesised thematically using an inductive–deductive approach to identify recurring implementation features across studies. The set of recurring components was then interpreted using the Reach, Effectiveness, Adoption, Implementation, Maintenance (RE-AIM) framework to highlight practical implementation considerations.
Thirteen studies met the inclusion criteria. The review examined how goal-setting support was operationalised across those studies and compared implementation features across diverse intervention settings, populations and delivery models. Details such as individual study designs, sample sizes, specific outcome measures, and numeric effect estimates were not reported in the summary provided.
The thematic synthesis identified seven implementation components that recurred across interventions:
These components were observed across a range of contexts rather than being confined to a single intervention type.
The review applied the RE-AIM framework to interpret how the identified components relate to practical implementation considerations. Using RE-AIM helped frame issues affecting: reach (who engages with goal-setting interventions), effectiveness (outcomes achievable in varied contexts), adoption (settings and staff who implement interventions), implementation (fidelity, delivery processes and adaptations) and maintenance (sustainability of intervention effects and continued delivery). The summary notes these practical considerations but does not provide detailed RE-AIM scoring or study-level mappings in the provided text.
Rather than prescribing a single optimal goal-setting method, the review presents seven recurring components that describe how goal-setting support has been delivered across diverse intervention contexts. These components offer practical, implementation-focused guidance for designing, adapting and evaluating community-based and social prescribing interventions that embed goal-setting to promote social connection among older adults. Implementers can consider structuring goal-setting processes, incorporating facilitative relationships, embedding monitoring and review, utilising group-based social supports, ensuring flexible and accessible delivery, centring goals on individual meaning, and providing tailored support for participants with complex needs.
This rapid review synthesised operational approaches to goal-setting and goal-attainment support within interventions targeting social connection in older adults. Thirteen studies yielded seven recurring implementation components rather than a single standardised approach. These components supply practical considerations to inform future intervention design, adaptation, implementation and evaluation in community and social prescribing contexts.