Collaboration between traditional health practitioners and biomedical health practitioners: Scoping review

Abstract

Background: Collaboration between traditional health practitioners (THPs) and biomedical health practitioners (BHPs) is highly recommended in catering for pluralistic healthcare users. Little is known about bidirectional collaborations at healthcare service provision level.

Aim: To map global evidence on collaboration attempts between THPs and BHPs between January 1978 and August 2023.

Method: We followed the Arksey and O’Malley framework in conducting this scoping review. Two reviewers independently screened articles for eligibility. A descriptive numerical and content analysis was performed on ATLAS.ti 22. A narrative summary of the findings was reported using the PRISMAScR guideline.

Results: Of the 8404 screened studies, 10 studies from 12 articles were included in the final review. Studies came from America (n = 5), Africa (n = 2), China (n = 2) and New Zealand (n = 1). Eight studies reported case studies of bidirectional collaboration programmes, while two studies reported on experimental research. All collaborations occurred within biomedical healthcare facilities. Collaboration often entailed activities such as relationship building, training of all practitioners, coordinated meetings, cross-referrals, treatment plan discussions and joint health promotion activities.

Conclusion: This study confirmed that practitioner-level collaborations within healthcare are few and sparse. More work is needed to move policy on integration of the two systems into implementation. There is a need to conduct more research and document emerging collaborations.

Contribution: This research illuminates the contextual challenges associated with sustaining collaborations. The data would be important in informing areas that need strengthening in the work towards integration of THPs and BHPs.