"Effectiveness of Sexual Health Education Interventions Addressing Sexual Violence and Sexual Safety for Adolescents: A Systematic Review Protocol"

BackgroundSexual health education interventions should provide adolescents with the knowledge and skills to assist them to navigate and develop safe and healthy relationships allowing them to positively transition from adolescence to adulthood. However, many sexual health education interventions omit addressing sexual violence and sexual safety. Of the interventions that do address sexual violence and sexual safety many are poorly or not at all evaluated. This paper details a protocol for a mixed-methods systematic review to critically appraise the evidence on the effectiveness of sexual health interventions that address sexual violence and sexual safety for adolescents. MethodsA systematic review of the literature following the Preferred Reporting Guidelines for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses (PRISMA) reporting guidelines will be undertaken. A search of the following databases will be conducted: CINAHL, PSYCHINFO, ERIC, EMBASE, PubMed, JSTOR, Scopus, PyscArticles, Soc Index with Full Text, Humanities Full Text (H. W. Wilson) and the British Education Index. Citations will be evaluated against predefined eligibility criteria using a two-stage screening process which will be conducted independently in pairs. Data will be extracted from eligible papers using pilot-tested data extraction forms focusing on measurements of effectiveness of the intervention and the impact of the intervention. Quality of evidence will be assessed using the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool (MMAT). The Template for intervention and description (TIDieR)) framework will be utilised to describe the included interventions. DiscussionThis study will describe sexual health education interventions that address sexual violence and sexual safety for adolescents and their efficacy. The evidence will help inform future planning for sexual health education interventions which address sexual violence and/or safety. OSF Registration: https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/YP2XQ