Gearing towards Sustainable Indigenous Elderly Quality of Life: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Indigenous elderly is one of the most medically underserved groups and are often left out, which resulted in significant health disparities. Besides, research on the indigenous elderly health and wellbeing is somewhat limited despite the world slogan of health equity for social sustainability.  Hence, having to assess the health status of the group will make a balanced effort for improving their overall quality of life. This paper aims to evaluate and synthesise the indigenous elderly health and wellbeing by using the systematic review of Scopus-indexed publications, published from 2003 to November 2020. Ninety-three articles served as the initial data, but only 22 articles were eligible to be used for the analyses of 1) perception and beliefs on health behaviour, 2) physical and mental health practices, 3) impactful studies and 4) implications of the studies towards policy and healthcare delivery. The findings revealed developed countries like the USA, Canada, and New Zealand have placed greater efforts in voicing out the group needs. Suggestions for future research are to focus on intervention programs and improvement of the healthcare policy development for the indigenous elderly ease of access to healthcare, fundamental for reducing the social gaps.