Exploring Traditional Healing and Medicine in Dementia Care for Indigenous Populations in North America, Australia, and New Zealand: A Policy Advocacy and Practice

Access to culturally‐safe dementia assessment, diagnosis, and care in Indigenous populations worldwide is an emerging challenge. In 2018, the World Health Organization recognized traditional healers as stakeholders in dementia care and prevention globally. Traditional healers contribute to dementia assessment, diagnosis, and care in unique ways, and play a catalytic role in the process of culturally‐safe dementia care planning and assessment with health care providers at the community level. The purpose of this scoping review was to understand the roles and experiences of traditional healers, to evaluate strategies for integration between Indigenous traditional healing and western dementia care approaches, and to examine the policy barriers and research gaps in North America, Australia, and New Zealand.