Museum-Based Engagement and Psychosocial Well-Being: A Systematic Review with Meta-Analytic Synthesis and Reporting-Readiness Mapping

Abstract

Museum-based cultural-health programmes are increasingly used in social prescribing, public-health, ageing and psychosocial-support contexts, but it remains unclear whether the evidence base is mature enough to support practice or policy claims. This systematic review included 52 studies; 40 were assessed for quantitative synthesis, and 29 unique studies contributed to the current pooled meta-analytic models. Evidence was synthesized separately for comparison-based and pre-post or within-subject models, with additional mapping of mechanism-related reporting gaps. The available quantitative evidence showed a positive direction but remained methodologically immature. Studies with a control or comparison condition produced a small comparison-based estimate (Hedges’ g = 0.304, 95% CI [0.156, 0.453]; excluding Zakharov et al. [2025]: g = 0.265, 95% CI [0.117, 0.413]). The broader pre-post estimate was larger (SMC = 0.490, 95% CI [0.368, 0.612]) but substantially attenuated under small-study-effect adjustment (PET intercept = 0.073; PEESE intercept = 0.246). Mechanism-related evidence was insufficiently reported for cumulative pathway testing because primary studies rarely provided the engagement–process–outcome associations needed to link engagement, candidate psychosocial processes and outcomes. The principal contribution of this review is therefore to map the methodological readiness of an emerging museum-health evidence base and highlight the design, outcome-selection, effect-size reporting and mechanism-reporting deficiencies that currently constrain stronger confirmatory synthesis.