Use of Critical Consciousness in Health and Well-Being Interventions: A Scoping Review

Background and Purpose: Critical consciousness has been discussed and used extensively in the field of education and Ethnic Studies. Higher rates of critical consciousness have been associated with positive mental health, educational success, and civic engagement and activism. However, many of these studies were primarily conducted cross-sectionally or longitudinally but observationally in nature without an active intervention using critical consciousness or used critical consciousness in its intervention but measured outcomes unrelated to health or well-being. The extant literature suggests that using critical consciousness as a guide in the development of an intervention can have promising positive effects in addressing the health and well-being of individuals, primarily those from systematically marginalized communities. The purpose of this study was to conduct a scoping review of interventions that was guided by the concept of critical consciousness to improve the health and well-being of communities.

Methods: We followed Arksey and O’Malley’s framework in conducting a scoping review. Using appropriate search terms, we used databases such as Pubmed, PsycInfo, Sociological Abstracts, Web of Science, and ERIC, to extract relevant peer-reviewed literature published from 1998 through February 2025. We identified 151 articles, screened 93, assessed 28 for full-text reviews, and narrowed it to 12 studies that met the study’s inclusion criteria. First, two trained coders independently reviewed the abstracts. Second, they met to resolve discrepancies and determine which articles should proceed to full-text review. Next, the coders conducted full-text reviews of the selected articles. Discrepancies were again discussed and resolved in pairs, resulting in a final set of articles included in the scoping review.

Results: The sample of the interventions were primarily comprised of people of color, youth and young adults, LGBTQ+, and people living with HIV. The primary outcomes were sexual behavior prevention such as preventing HIV and STI transmissions, substance use, and depression. Interventions adapted existing interventions or designed interventions with the objectives of raising the critical consciousness of the participants. They used constructs of critical consciousness such as critical dialogue, reflection, and action and integrated them within the interventions through educational modules and activities like diaries and acting. Many of the interventions demonstrated promising results, such as shifting the understanding of the participants from individualized problems to systemic issues. More importantly, participants were more willing to take on critical action through less engagement in unhealthy and risky health behaviors, participating in advocacy through organizing, and taking on leadership roles to change the sociopolitical policies and environment that they navigate and operate in to improve their community’s health and well-being. Some of the limitations of the studies include being implemented in the pilot stages of the intervention which require further refinement for its acceptability and feasibility, smaller sample sizes, and fewer studies that have replicated the studies since.

Conclusions and Implications: Researchers and practitioners should consider how to pair or adapt critical consciousness in existing evidence based practices, particularly when working with communities often targeted by oppressive and discriminatory policies and laws.