Top

Systematic Reviews

Published in:

Open Access 01-12-2021 | Commentary

Establishing a comprehensive search strategy for Indigenous health literature reviews

Authors: Louise Harding, Caterina J. Marra, Judy Illes

Published in: Systematic Reviews | Issue 1/2021

Abstract

Background

Appropriate search strategies are essential to ensure the integrity and reproducibility of systematic and scoping reviews, as researchers seek to capture as many relevant resources as possible. In the case of Indigenous health reviews, researchers are met with the special challenge of creating a search strategy that can encompass this large, diverse population group with no universally agreed upon identification criteria.

Main body

With an aim to promote improved review methodologies that uphold standards of justice, autonomy, and equity for Indigenous peoples and other heterogeneous populations, we describe critical gaps and approaches to close them. We report organizational and transparency issues around how Indigenous populations are indexed in several major databases, and draw on examples of published reviews and protocols to demonstrate the challenges inherent to creating a comprehensive search strategy.

Conclusions

The conduct and communication of results from health literature research on global Indigenous populations are compromised by challenges of methodology that are rooted in the complexities inherent to defining Indigenous peoples. These challenges must be urgently addressed to improve this important field of inquiry moving forward.

Available only for authorised users

Since writing the first version of this manuscript, the National Library of Medicine introduced its 2021 Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) that includes improved organization and categorization of North American Indigenous populations under the existing heading, Indians, North American.

Simonds VW, Christopher S. Adapting western research methods to Indigenous ways of knowing. Am J Public Health. 2013;103(12):2185–92. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2012.301157.

United Nations. State of the world’s Indigenous peoples. New York: United Nations; 2009. https://doi.org/10.18356/e92ca6a3-en.

Bartlett J, Madariaga-Vignudo L, O’Neil J, Kuhnlein HV. Identifying Indigenous peoples for health research in a global context: a review of perspectives and challenges. Int J Circumpolar Health. 2007;66(4):287–307. https://doi.org/10.3402/ijch.v66i4.18270.

Informit Indigenous Collection. Informit. https://www.informit.org/informit-indigenous-collection. Accessed 10 Aug 2020.

Native Health Database. University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center, Albuquerque. https://hslic-nhd.health.unm.edu/Home/. Accessed 10 Aug 2020.

MeSH Browser. National Library of Medicine. https://meshb.nlm.nih.gov/search. Accessed 10 Aug 2020.

Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL Complete). EBSCO. https://www.ebscohost.com/nursing/products/cinahl-databases/cinahl-complete. Accessed 10 Aug 2020.

Tranberg R, Alexander S, Hatcher D, Mackey S, Shahid S, Holden L, et al. Factors influencing cancer treatment decision-making by Indigenous peoples: a systematic review. Psycho-Oncol. 2015;25(2):131–41. https://doi.org/10.1002/pon.3900.

Pollock N, Naicker K, Loro A, Mulay S, Colman I. Global incidence of suicide among Indigenous peoples: a systematic review. BMC Med. 2018;16(1):145. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12916-018-1115-6.

10.

Bishop-Williams KE, Sargeant JM, Berrang-Ford L, Edge VL, Cunsolo A, Harper SL. A protocol for a systematic literature review: comparing the impact of seasonal and meteorological parameters on acute respiratory infections in Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples. Syst Rev. 2017;6(1):19. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13643-016-0399-x.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral

11.

Middleton J, Cunsolo A, Jones-Bitton A, Wright C, Harper S. Indigenous mental health in a changing climate: a systematic scoping review of the global literature. Environ Res Lett. 2020;15(5):053001. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ab68a9.CrossRef

12.

Anderson JA, Eijkholt M, Illes J. Ethical reproducibility: towards transparent reporting in biomedical research. Nat Methods. 2013;10(9):843–35. https://doi.org/10.1038/nmeth.2564.CrossRefPubMed

Title: Establishing a comprehensive search strategy for Indigenous health literature reviews
Authors: Louise Harding
Caterina J. Marra
Judy Illes
Publication date: 01-12-2021
Publisher: BioMed Central
Published in: Systematic Reviews / Issue 1/2021
Electronic ISSN: 2046-4053
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s13643-021-01664-y

At a glance: The STEP trials

Springer Medicine

Establishing a comprehensive search strategy for Indigenous health literature reviews

Abstract

Background

Main body

Conclusions

At a glance: The STEP trials

Springer Medicine

Abstract

Background

Main body

Conclusions

Please log in to get access to this content

Other articles of this Issue 1/2021

A mega-aggregation framework synthesis of the barriers and facilitators to linkage, adherence to ART and retention in care among people living with HIV

Developing a topic-based repository of clinical trial individual patient data: experiences and lessons learned from a pilot project

A systematic and meta-analysis review on the diagnostic accuracy of antibodies in the serological diagnosis of COVID-19

A characterization of cortisol level and adrenal reservation in human cardiopulmonary arrest: systematic review and meta-analysis

A likelihood ratio test for the homogeneity of between-study variance in network meta-analysis

Process evaluation of complex interventions in chronic and neglected tropical diseases in low- and middle-income countries—a scoping review protocol