Wrapping a Rainbow Around the Medicine Wheel: A Scoping Review of Social and Emotional Wellbeing for Queer, Trans, and Two Spirit Native Youth

Autumn Asher BlackDeer ()
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Autumn Asher BlackDeer: Southern Cheyenne Nation, Graduate School of Social Work, University of Denver, Denver, CO 80011, USA

Social Sciences, 2025, vol. 14, issue 5, 1-19

Abstract: Queer, trans, and Two Spirit Native youth are rarely represented in research, with extant evidence continuously pointing out health disparities and pathologizing individual characteristics rather than accounting for the structural aspects of colonial society. Global Indigenous scholars have put forth a holistic conception of social and emotional wellbeing that integrates Indigenous sovereignty, strengths, and cultures, positing that Indigenous health is a culturally bound phenomenon. To move beyond these deficit-based framings and collate available scholarship, the present work presents the results of a scoping review surrounding the social and emotional wellbeing of queer, trans, and Two Spirit Native youth. Informed by the Indigiqueer ecological medicine wheel, the present work includes a breadth of health and wellbeing concepts for QT2S Native youth across micro and macro domains. A total of 27 articles met the criteria and were reviewed to (a) illuminate current experiences of QT2S Native youth, (b) provide recommendations for health providers to better support QT2S Native youth clients, and (c) suggest future research and data recommendations to build towards a holistic understanding of social and emotional wellbeing for queer, trans, and Two Spirit Native youth.

Keywords: American Indian; Alaska Native; Indigenous; queer; trans; Two Spirit; wellbeing (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A B N P Y80 Z00 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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