Abstract
Background: Indigenous women world-wide are diverse and heterogenous, yet many have similar experiences of colonization, land dispossession, and discrimination. These experiences along with inequitable access to, and quality of, maternal healthcare increase adverse maternal health outcomes. To improve health outcomes for Indigenous women, studies must be conducted with Indigenous involvement and reflect Indigenous research principles. Objectives/Aim: The aim of this review was to explore the range, extent, and nature of Indigenous maternal health research and to assess the reporting of Indigenous research principles in the global Indigenous maternal health literature. Methods: Following a systematic scoping review protocol, four scholarly electronic databases were searched. Articles were included if they reported empirical research published between 2000 and 2019 and had a focus on Indigenous maternal health. Descriptive data were extracted from relevant articles and descriptive analysis was conducted. Included articles were also assessed for reporting of Indigenous research principles, including Indigenous involvement, context of colonization, Indigenous conceptualizations of health, community benefits, knowledge dissemination to participants or communities, and policy or intervention recommendations. Results: Four-hundred and forty-one articles met the inclusion criteria. While studies were conducted in all continents except Antarctica, less than 3% of articles described research in low-income countries. The most researched topics were access to and quality of maternity care (25%), pregnancy outcome and/or complications (18%), and smoking, alcohol and/or drug use during pregnancy (14%). The most common study design was cross-sectional (49%), and the majority of articles used quantitative methods only (68%). Less than 2% of articles described or reported all Indigenous research principles, and 71% of articles did not report on Indigenous People's involvement. Conclusions: By summarizing the trends in published literature on Indigenous maternal health, we highlight the need for increased geographic representation of Indigenous women, expansion of research to include important but under-researched topics, and meaningful involvement of Indigenous Peoples.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 114629 |
| Journal | Social Science and Medicine |
| Volume | 292 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 1 Dec 2021 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:Funding was provided by a Frederick Banting Doctoral Graduate Scholarship ( CIHR ), an IDRC Doctoral research award, a University of Guelph Summerlee research grant, and a University of Guelph Dean's Scholarship awarded to Kaitlin Patterson, and a CIHR team grant awarded to Sherilee Harper, Jan Sargeant, Lea Berrang-Ford and Shuaib Lwasa.
Funding Information:
Funding was provided by a Frederick Banting Doctoral Graduate Scholarship (CIHR), an IDRC Doctoral research award, a University of Guelph Summerlee research grant, and a University of Guelph Dean's Scholarship awarded to Kaitlin Patterson, and a CIHR team grant awarded to Sherilee Harper, Jan Sargeant, Lea Berrang-Ford and Shuaib Lwasa.We thank Jacqueline Middleton and Katherine Bishop-Williams for their work in the collaboratively developed list of population terms. Thank you to Ali Versluis, librarian at the University of Guelph, for her support in developing the search strategy and specific database search terms. We thank the following research assistants for their help with screening Helen Ha, Nia King, Christopher Chan, Megan Macasaet, Subhana Tazrian, Sardeev Bajwa, Mary Cheuk, Emma Clarke, Campion Cottrell-McDermott, and Shaina Corrick.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Elsevier Ltd
Research programs
- ISS-GLSJ
