Objective: Indigenous peoples are at elevated risk of exposure to trauma and related mental and physical health difficulties that are rooted in the ongoing experience of settler-colonialism. Historical and current trauma exposure feed intergenerational cycles that compromise the healthy development of Indigenous children.
Method: We conducted a systematic review of trauma-focused, caregiver-child interventions adapted for Indigenous communities.
Results: We identified 13 articles each reporting a unique intervention. Six were implemented among American Indians, five among Indigenous Australians, one among First Nations and Metis peoples, and one among Māori peoples. Eight of the interventions used surface-structure cultural adaptations (i.e., replacing images or examples for greater cultural relevance), one used deep-structure cultural adaptations (i.e., replacing curriculum for greater cultural relevance), and four were culturally grounded interventions (i.e., developed by the Indigenous community in partnership with researchers).
Conclusions: The overall limited number of trauma-focused, caregiver-child interventions for Indigenous communities, and especially those representing reciprocal collaboration between researchers and the communities with whom they engage, is notable. We argue that such collaboration is critical to healing Indigenous traumatization from colonization and provide recommendations for future trauma intervention science. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).