Exploring Indigenous Traditional Healing programs in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand: A scoping review

To explore and catalog ways Indigenous Traditional Healing practices are supported within the mainstream healthcare system through policies and programs in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.

A scoping review was conducted, guided by the PRISMA extension for Scoping Reviews. Databases for sources of information include CINAHL, Medline, Embase, Web of Science, Public Health ProQuest, Global Health EBSCO, iPortal, and grey literature.

2 reviewers screened the titles and abstracts of the studies for inclusion against the selection criteria independently. Studies that met the inclusion criteria were transferred to Covidence for further abstract and full-text review.

Of a total of 2,017 articles identified, 22 met the inclusion criteria for data extraction for this scoping review. Data items extracted include study title, authors, year of publication, publication type, publication source, support policy or program, health system or service, Indigenous Traditional Healing practices, and significant findings.

2 categories emerged from the analysis of the source of evidence. That is, healthcare systems and services with programs and policies supporting Indigenous Traditional Healing practices, and ways Indigenous Traditional Healing was adopted and utilized within the identified support programs.

This study demonstrated the various ways Indigenous Traditional Healing practices are supported within the mainstream healthcare systems in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. Indigenous Traditional Healing practices can be utilized as either the primary choice of treatment, to support Western biomedical treatment or through the adoption of Indigenous Traditional knowledge within the mainstream healthcare system.