Parent-Adolescent Communication on Sexual and Reproductive Health Among Indigenous Peoples: A Scoping Review of Barriers and Facilitators in the Latin American Context

Parent-adolescent communication on sexual reproductive health (SRH) is crucial in addressing adolescents’ needs and mitigating risks, such as early pregnancies. However, studies mapping this evidence within Indigenous Peoples in Latin American countries remain scarce. This scoping review examines the barriers and facilitators of parent-adolescent SRH communication among Indigenous Peoples in the Americas. This review follows the six-stage Arksey and O’Malley framework, the Joanna Briggs Institute Manual, and the PRISMA-ScR checklist. A keyword-based search across seven electronic databases was conducted for publications in Spanish and English from January 2000 to August 2024. Two reviewers screened and extracted data, using a Socio-Ecological Framework to synthesize the data and explore how individual, interpersonal, and community-level factors influence communication. Fifteen articles were included from an initial 1,087, with most studies conducted in Mexico, Guatemala, and Peru. Key barriers included parents’ limited education and knowledge due to their upbringings and low educational attainment, fear, shame, societal taboos, and stigma, especially around contraceptives and sexual activity. Traditional gender roles, changes in family structures, and intergenerational shifts compounded these barriers. Facilitators included leveraging parents’ experiences to strengthen emotional bonds and enhance communication. Other facilitators include same-sex conversations, particularly with mothers, and the evolving gender roles that empower female adolescents and women to access SRH information and services. This review highlights the SRH communication challenges Indigenous Peoples in the Americas face and identifies opportunities to improve these discussions. Future research should focus on underexplored content of conversations, underrepresented countries, and explore how economic, social, cultural, and policy factors influence parent-adolescent SRH communication.