Sámi traditional medicine: practices, usage, benefit, accessibility and relation to conventional medicine, a scoping review study

Abstract

The Sámi Indigenous populations, who live in the arctic Sápmi area across four countries – Norway, Sweden, Finland and the Kola Peninsula of Russia – have practiced traditional medicine (TM) for millennia. However, today Sámi TM is unknown within the Swedish health care services (HCS). The aim of this study is to describe the nature and scope of research conducted on Sámi TM among the four Sápmi countries. This study covers peer-reviewed research published in the English language up to 8 April 2020. From 15 databases, 240 abstracts were identified, and 19 publications met the inclusion criteria for full review. Seventeen studies were conducted in Norway, one in Finland and one in Sweden, none in Russia. In northern Norway, Sámi TM is actively used by the local communities, and is claimed to be effective, but is not accessible within HCS. Holistic worldviews, including spirituality, prevail in Sámi TM from practitioners’ selection criteria to health care practices to illness responsibilities. An integration of Sámi TM into HCS is clearly the desire of local communities. Comparisons were made between Sámi TM and conventional medicine on worldviews, on perspectives towards each other, and on integration. More studies are needed in Sweden, Finland and Russia.

Keywords

• sámi
• traditional healing
• arctic indigenous people
• worldview
• spirituality
• medical pluralism
• integration