JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

In settler colonial countries, Indigenous people do not necessarily view disability in the same way as do other dominant groups. Indigenous conceptualizations of disability are connected to their ancestral history, cultural customs, and environmental context. Some Indigenous groups do not contain a word that is the equivalent to disability in their native language. To address this gap, this scoping review will map the current literature to identify the perspectives, concepts, and understandings of disability in Indigenous communities in Canada.

Objective:

The objective of this scoping review is to map the literature on perspectives, concepts, and understandings of disability in Indigenous communities in Canada.

Methods:

Following the methodological framework for scoping reviews of Arksey and O’Malley, we will search online databases, including Ovid Medline, PubMed, EBSCOhost, Scopus, Web of Science, CBCA and Autochtonia. We will search gray literature through the Google search engine, conference abstracts, dissertation databases, government documents and Indigenous organization websites. We will include quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods studies in English and French. The included studies will describe Indigenous approaches to disability, as they are understood based on personal, cultural, and historical contexts. Two reviewers will use Covidence software to remove duplicates, screen articles, record the step-by-step selection process, and extract data from the included articles. We will use ResearchRabbit.ai and Elicit with the list of selected articles to identify any additional similar references. All the relevant reports will follow the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis: Extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) guidelines. We will report the findings in tables or charts, with accompanying narrative summaries.

Results:

It is intended that this scoping review will be completed within 12 months following the publication of this protocol.

Conclusions:

We anticipate that the findings from the scoping review will provide be useful for professionals, researchers, and policymakers interested in designing and implementing evidence-informed disability programs and services for Indigenous communities in Canada, preventing mismatches between the programs and the sociocultural context. The results of this review will be disseminated through conferences, publications in scientific journals, and engagement with relevant stakeholders. Clinical Trial: The protocol has been registered on the Open Science Framework database (osf.io/9rzkx).