Conditions for the success and the feasibility of health mediation for healthcare use by underserved populations: a scoping review

OBJECTIVE: This article aims to analyse the conditions under which health mediation for healthcare use is successful and feasible for underserved populations. METHOD: We conducted a scoping review on the conditions for effective health mediation according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses Extension for Scoping Reviews standards. We searched for articles in the following databases: PubMed, PsychINFO, Scopus and Cairn published between 1 January 2015 and 18 December 2020. We selected the articles concerning health mediation interventions or similar, implemented in high-income countries and conducted among underserved populations, along with articles that questioned their effectiveness conditions. We created a two-dimensional analysis grid of the data collected: a descriptive dimension of the intervention and an analytical dimension of the conditions for the success and feasability of health mediation. RESULTS: 22 articles were selected and analysed. The scoping review underlines many health mediation characteristics that articulate education and healthcare system navigation actions, along with mobilisation, engagement, and collaboration of local actors among themselves and with the populations. The conditions for the success and the feasability were grouped in a conceptual framework of health mediation. CONCLUSION: The scoping review allows us to establish an initial framework for analysing the conditions for the success and the feasability of health mediation and to question the consistency of the health mediation approach regarding cross-cutting tensions and occasionally divergent logic.