Abstract
BACKGROUND: A variety of frameworks for developing and evaluating public health interventions exists. However, an overview of existing public health frameworks is missing posing challenges for practitioners, policymakers, and researchers navigating the dynamic field of public health. This scoping review aims to give an overview of public health frameworks for the development and evaluation of interventions in primary prevention and health promotion. METHODS: This scoping review followed the Joanna Briggs Institute scoping review methodology and adhered to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses Extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) checklist. Five electronic databases (MEDLINE, Scopus, IEEE Xplore, CINAHL, and PsycINFO; to 12 April 2022) were searched for English-written peer-reviewed journal articles describing descriptive frameworks (i.e., providing standards, principles, criteria, characteristics, or properties) for the development and/or evaluation of interventions focusing on primary prevention and health promotion. In addition, reference lists of included reviews were screened manually. Title/abstract and full-text screening were independently performed by two researchers. Criteria and sub-criteria from the included frameworks were (1) clustered to the HTA Core Model and (2) grouped and summarized into themes and sub-themes using a deductive-inductive iterative approach by one researcher and reviewed by a second researcher. RESULTS: 39 frameworks out of 4,680 records were included in this scoping review. Frameworks were published between 1986 and 2021 with 19 frameworks published in the USA. About half of the frameworks were designed to encompass all public health interventions in primary prevention and health promotion, while the other half were more specific (e.g., disease or behaviour-specific). The number of criteria and sub-criteria in the included frameworks varied widely, ranging from two to eleven criteria and from none to 63 sub-criteria. Criteria and sub-criteria from the 39 included frameworks were grouped into seven themes: (1) intervention development, (2) intervention implementation, (3) intervention evaluation, (4) dissemination and sustainability, (5) organizational aspects, (6) ethics, and (7) context. CONCLUSIONS: This scoping review provides an overview of existing public health frameworks and identified seven themes, organized into four phases and three non-phase-related themes, for developing and evaluating public health interventions in prevention and health promotion. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12889-026-27174-x.