Is it time to introduce health coaching in inflammatory bowel disease management?

Inflammatory bowel disease is a chronic, relapsing-remitting condition with profound physical, psychological, and social consequences. Conventional therapies are essential for controlling intestinal inflammation but often fail to address behavioral and motivational dimensions critical for adherence, stress management, and quality of life. Health Coaching has emerged as a patient-centered intervention that fosters self-efficacy, resilience, and sustainable behavior change. This narrative review synthesizes current evidence on Health Coaching in chronic disease management and explores its potential application in Inflammatory bowel disease care. Across chronic conditions, Health Coaching has shown benefits in promoting behavioral change, improving self-management, and enhancing quality of life. Evidence in Inflammatory bowel disease, although limited, suggests Health Coaching may improve psychological well-being, treatment adherence, and coping. Early studies demonstrate feasibility, high satisfaction, and promising effects on stress, fatigue, and Inflammatory bowel disease-related disability. Health Coaching represents a promising adjunct to conventional Inflammatory bowel disease care by integrating medical, psychosocial, and behavioral competencies within a patient-centered framework. Future research should focus on standardizing protocols, clarifying the professional role of health coaches, and conducting rigorous trials to establish long-term clinical and economic impact. Integrating Health Coaching into multidisciplinary Inflammatory bowel disease management could optimize outcomes and advance holistic, value-based care. (c) 2026 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of Editrice Gastroenterologica Italiana S.r.l. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ )