Relationship between intergenerational trauma and chronic disease impacting Indigenous peoples of Australia, Canada, Aotearoa New Zealand, and the United States: a scoping review protocol.

Authors

Nick Leidig, Lance Reilly, Tina Brodie, Zachary Munn, Alexandra Bloch-Atefi, Flynn Slattery, Jaklin Eliott

Published in

JBI evidence synthesis. Sep 07, 2026. Epub Sep 07, 2026.

Abstract

This scoping review will describe the nature and extent of evidence on intergenerational trauma (IGT) and chronic diseases impacting Indigenous peoples of Australia, Canada, Aotearoa New Zealand (NZ), and the US.
Indigenous peoples of Australia, Canada, NZ, and the US have been impacted by historical and ongoing effects of colonization. Growing evidence links past and successive trauma among these groups, that is, IGT, to a greater risk of poor mental health. This review will contribute to the growing literature on IGT as a framework for comprehensively analyzing health inequities, particularly disproportionate rates of chronic diseases, experienced by Indigenous peoples.
This review will consider evidence sources that include Indigenous peoples of Australia, Canada, NZ, and the US, of all ages and genders, who are diagnosed with chronic disease(s). The sources must address IGT and its physiological impact. The review will include studies published in English and French between 1999 and 2025.
This review will follow the JBI methodology for scoping reviews and the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR). Four electronic databases will be systematically searched: Scopus, PubMed, CINAHL Ultimate (EBSCOhost), and PsycINFO (Ovid). A supplementary Google Scholar search and consultation with First Nations experts in IGT will be undertaken to identify published and unpublished literature, including gray literature, such as government documents and community-led resources. Studies on any chronic disease with IGT will be eligible. Data will be extracted and analyzed, and studies' findings and characteristics will be presented in diagrams and tables.
OSF https://osf.io/8e5kg.

PMID:
42708831
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 08 Sep 2026.

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