Chau Josephine Y, Hunter John, Gwynn Josephine D, Dharmayani Ms Putu Novi Arfirsta, Henson Connie, Ludlow Briellyn, Skinner John C, Gwynne Kylie, Rambaldini Boe
Department of Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Health & Human Sciences, Macquarie University, Australia.
Smart Green Cities Research Centre, Macquarie University, Australia.
Health Promot J Austr. 2025 Oct;36(4):e70086. doi: 10.1002/hpja.70086.
Citizen science, an approach to health promotion that involves public participation and collaboration, has been posited as a promising approach to reach diverse or marginalised populations. This scoping review aims to explore the involvement of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders and other First Nations and Indigenous peoples internationally in citizen science in health-related studies. While current health promotion in Indigenous communities is already strongly embedded in participatory approaches, we sought to examine whether citizen science methodologies have been used in health promotion and see what it could add.
We searched three databases for self-identified citizen science studies on health-related topics in the peer-reviewed literature using the term 'citizen science' combined with search terms relevant to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders and global Indigenous populations. We recorded data about project characteristics and the citizen science approach used and appraised the cultural engagement quality of studies included.
Eleven articles were included for full-text review. Included studies focused on a range of health-related topics, including environmental issues, physical health, food security, and youth mental health. Six studies (55%) adopted a co-created citizen science approach in which citizen scientists had input in key project phases and activities as collaborators and partners. The remaining studies took contributory (27%) or collaborative (9%) approaches, while no studies were citizen-led. The cultural engagement quality of included citizen science projects was positive overall, although there were areas for improvement, specifically having clear Indigenous research leadership and governance, and transparent agreements on rights to cultural and intellectual property arising from the research.
Citizen science projects focusing on health-related issues among Indigenous peoples and communities are relatively few. The potential of this approach to enrich current community-based participatory or co-design approaches to health promotion among Indigenous communities remains to be determined. SO WHAT?: Future citizen science projects involving Indigenous people and communities should prioritise and support Indigenous-led citizen science approaches where communities initiate, lead, and govern research processes. Cultural engagement quality could be improved, particularly in relation to having Indigenous-led research governance, and rights of access to and protections of Indigenous intellectual and cultural property.
公民科学是一种涉及公众参与和合作的健康促进方法，被认为是接触不同或边缘化人群的一种有前景的方法。本范围综述旨在探讨澳大利亚原住民和托雷斯海峡岛民以及国际上其他第一民族和原住民在与健康相关研究中的公民科学参与情况。虽然目前原住民社区的健康促进已经深深融入参与式方法，但我们试图研究公民科学方法是否已用于健康促进，并看看它能带来什么。
我们在三个数据库中搜索了同行评审文献中关于健康相关主题的自我认定的公民科学研究，使用术语“公民科学”并结合与澳大利亚原住民和托雷斯海峡岛民以及全球原住民人口相关的搜索词。我们记录了有关项目特征和所使用的公民科学方法的数据，并评估了所纳入研究的文化参与质量。
11篇文章被纳入全文评审。纳入的研究聚焦于一系列与健康相关的主题，包括环境问题、身体健康、食品安全和青少年心理健康。六项研究（55%）采用了共同创建的公民科学方法，其中公民科学家作为合作者和伙伴在关键项目阶段和活动中发挥了作用。其余研究采用了贡献式（27%）或合作式（9%）方法，没有研究是以公民为主导的。所纳入的公民科学项目的文化参与质量总体上是积极的，尽管仍有改进的空间，特别是要有明确的原住民研究领导和治理，以及关于研究产生的文化和知识产权权利的透明协议。
关注原住民和社区中与健康相关问题的公民科学项目相对较少。这种方法丰富当前原住民社区基于社区的参与式或共同设计的健康促进方法的潜力仍有待确定。那又如何？：未来涉及原住民和社区的公民科学项目应优先考虑并支持由原住民主导的公民科学方法，即社区发起、领导和管理研究过程。文化参与质量可以得到改善，特别是在原住民主导的研究治理以及获取和保护原住民知识和文化财产的权利方面。
