Risk and Protective Factors of Stealthing in Africa: A Scoping Review Protocol

Type of Review Scoping Review. Specifically, this review will utilize Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) checklist with reference to Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses-Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR). Review stages The following are the review stages: identify the research question(s), identify relevant studies, select studies, charting the data, Collating, Summarizing, and Reporting the Results Current review stage Identifying relevant studies Start date 15/09/2026 End date 10/1/2027 Background The scoping Review intends to review the risk and protective factors of Stealthing in Africa. It seeks to consolidate and integrate prevailing works or scholarly literature, uncover evidence and Empirical gap and contribute to fact based and data driven initiatives, actions and policy measures to address risk factors of Stealthing while enhancing protective factors of Stealthing in Africa. Stealthing or non Consensual Condom removal is a situation where an individual removes condom before or during sex. This often happens in the absence of the victims knowledge or consent and put the victim at significant risks. It goes beyond sexual and reproductive health issue to have implications in law, socialization, mental health, economic or financial, occupational implications. While a significant number of individuals on the African continent have been victims or at risk of being victims of Stealthing or non-consensual condom removal, it still unclear as to what the risk and protective factors are on the continent. While other parts of the world are making effort to comprehensively identity risk and protective factors of Stealthing or non-consensual, such is not the case in Africa. This is detrimental especially due to its importance to public health and Socio-legal importance. It is on that backdrop that this Scoping review seeks to map, identify and describe the risk and protective factors of Stealthing or non-consensual condom removal in Africa. This may help in policies aimed towards addressing this public issue on the continent. Moreover it Will also assist in legislations against it and inform further research and healthcare and social welfare practices regarding Stealthing. Primary Research Questions 1. What are the risk factors of Stealthing? 2. What are the protective factors of Stealthing? Secondary research questions 1.What are the individual and social determinants of Stealthing 2. What are the Institutional, individual and societal factors preventing Stealthing from occuring? Expectations/Hypothesis Expectation 1: consolidation and integration of studies on risk factors of Stealthing Expectation 2 : consolidation and integration of studies on Protective Factors of Stealthing Expectation 3: consolidation and integration of factors associated with Stealthing Dependent Variables The dependent Variable is Stealthing or non-consensual condom removal or Reproductive Coercion Independent Variable Outcome from the review will determine the Socio-demographic factors, Institutional factors, Family, Contextual factors factors that are risk or protective factors or associative factors. Additional variables Not Applicable Softwares Covidence, mendely, Microsoft Excel Funding No Funding Conflict of interest None to declare Overlapping authorship There is and will be none. Appropriate measures will be taken. Search Strategy Database Scopus, Web of Science, PubMed and JSTOR Interface Scopus, Web of Science, PubMed and JSTOR Grey literature Grey literature will be sourced from theses, dissertation, abstracts and working papers, government reports and policy documents, preprints Inclusion and Exclusion Criteria Inclusion: 1. Studies that looked at risk factors of Stealthing, non-consensual condom removal or reproductive Coercion 2. Studies that looked at protective factors of Stealthing, non-consensual condom removal or reproductive Coercion 3. Studies done in Africa 4. Studies done in English language Exclusion 1. Studies that not related to Stealthing, non-Consensual Condom removal or reproductive Coercion 2. Studies that are not in English language 3. Studies that are not done in Africa 4. Reviews, commentary, editorial letters Query Strings Scopus ("Risk Factors OR "Determinants" OR "Predisposing Factors" OR "Contributing Factors" OR "Protective Factors" OR "Preventive Measures") AND ("Stealthing" OR "Non-consensual condom removal" OR "Reproductive Coercion" OR "Covert Condom Removal" OR "Unwanted Condom Removal") AND ("AFRICA" OR "sub-Sahara Africa" OR "Algeria" OR "Angola" OR "Benin" OR "Botswana" OR "Burkina Faso" OR "Burundi" OR "Cabo Verde" OR "Cameroon" OR "Central African Republic" OR "Chad" OR "Comoros" OR "Congo (DRC)" OR "Congo (Republic)" OR "Djibouti" OR "Egypt" OR "Equatorial Guinea" OR "Eritrea" OR "Eswatini" OR "Ethiopia" OR "Gabon" OR "Gambia" OR "Ghana" OR "Guinea" OR "Guinea-Bissau" OR "Ivory Coast" OR "Kenya" OR "Lesotho" OR "Liberia" OR "Libya" OR "Madagascar" OR "Malawi" OR "Mali" OR "Mauritania" OR "Mauritius" OR "Morocco" OR "Mozambique" OR "Namibia" OR "Niger" OR "Nigeria" OR "Rwanda" OR "Sao Tome and Principe" OR "Senegal" OR "Seychelles" OR "Sierra Leone" OR "Somalia" OR "South Africa" OR "South Sudan" OR "Sudan" OR "Tanzania" OR "Togo" OR "Tunisia" OR "Uganda" OR "Zambia" OR "Zimbabwe") Web of Science ("Risk Factors" OR "Determinants" OR "Predisposing Factors" OR "Contributing Factors" OR "Protective Factors" OR "Preventive Measures") AND ("Stealthing" OR "Non-consensual condom removal" OR "Reproductive Coercion" OR "Covert Condom Removal" OR "Deceptive condom removal") AND ("AFRICA" OR "sub-Sahara Africa" OR "Algeria" OR "Angola" OR "Benin" OR "Botswana" OR "Burkina Faso" OR "Burundi" OR "Cabo Verde" OR "Cameroon" OR "Central African Republic" OR "Chad" OR "Comoros" OR "Congo (DRC)" OR "Congo (Republic)" OR "Djibouti" OR "Egypt" OR "Equatorial Guinea" OR "Eritrea" OR "Eswatini" OR "Ethiopia" OR "Gabon" OR "Gambia" OR "Ghana" OR "Guinea" OR "Guinea-Bissau" OR "Ivory Coast" OR "Kenya" OR "Lesotho" OR "Liberia" OR "Libya" OR "Madagascar" OR "Malawi" OR "Mali" OR "Mauritania" OR "Mauritius" OR "Morocco" OR "Mozambique" OR "Namibia" OR "Niger" OR "Nigeria" OR "Rwanda" OR "Sao Tome and Principe" OR "Senegal" OR "Seychelles" OR "Sierra Leone" OR "Somalia" OR "South Africa" OR "South Sudan" OR "Sudan" OR "Tanzania" OR "Togo" OR "Tunisia" OR "Uganda" OR "Zambia" OR "Zimbabwe") PubMed ("Risk Factors" OR "Determinants" OR "Predisposing Factors" OR "Contributing Factors" OR "Protective Factors" OR "Preventive Measures") AND ("Stealthing" OR "Non-consensual condom removal" OR "Reproductive Coercion" OR "Covert Condom Removal" OR "Surreptitious condom removal") AND ("AFRICA" OR "sub-Sahara Africa" OR "Algeria" OR "Angola" OR "Benin" OR "Botswana" OR "Burkina Faso" OR "Burundi" OR "Cabo Verde" OR "Cameroon" OR "Central African Republic" OR "Chad" OR "Comoros" OR "Congo (DRC)" OR "Congo (Republic)" OR "Djibouti" OR "Egypt" OR "Equatorial Guinea" OR "Eritrea" OR "Eswatini" OR "Ethiopia" OR "Gabon" OR "Gambia" OR "Ghana" OR "Guinea" OR "Guinea-Bissau" OR "Ivory Coast" OR "Kenya" OR "Lesotho" OR "Liberia" OR "Libya" OR "Madagascar" OR "Malawi" OR "Mali" OR "Mauritania" OR "Mauritius" OR "Morocco" OR "Mozambique" OR "Namibia" OR "Niger" OR "Nigeria" OR "Rwanda" OR "Sao Tome and Principe" OR "Senegal" OR "Seychelles" OR "Sierra Leone" OR "Somalia" OR "South Africa" OR "South Sudan" OR "Sudan" OR "Tanzania" OR "Togo" OR "Tunisia" OR "Uganda" OR "Zambia" OR "Zimbabwe") JSTOR ("Risk Factors" OR "Determinants" OR "Predisposing Factors" OR "Contributing Factors" OR "Protective Factors" OR "Preventive Measures") AND ("Stealthing" OR "Non-consensual condom removal" OR "Reproductive Coercion" OR "Covert Condom Removal" OR "Unwanted Condom Removal") AND ("AFRICA" OR "sub-Sahara Africa" OR "Algeria" OR "Angola" OR "Benin" OR "Botswana" OR "Burkina Faso" OR "Burundi" OR "Cabo Verde" OR "Cameroon" OR "Central African Republic" OR "Chad" OR "Comoros" OR "Congo (DRC)" OR "Congo (Republic)" OR "Djibouti" OR "Egypt" OR "Equatorial Guinea" OR "Eritrea" OR "Eswatini" OR "Ethiopia" OR "Gabon" OR "Gambia" OR "Ghana" OR "Guinea" OR "Guinea-Bissau" OR "Ivory Coast" OR "Kenya" OR "Lesotho" OR "Liberia" OR "Libya" OR "Madagascar" OR "Malawi" OR "Mali" OR "Mauritania" OR "Mauritius" OR "Morocco" OR "Mozambique" OR "Namibia" OR "Niger" OR "Nigeria" OR "Rwanda" OR "Sao Tome and Principe" OR "Senegal" OR "Seychelles" OR "Sierra Leone" OR "Somalia" OR "South Africa" OR "South Sudan" OR "Sudan" OR "Tanzania" OR "Togo" OR "Tunisia" OR "Uganda" OR "Zambia" OR "Zimbabwe") Search validation procedure 1. We will select a gold or standard set of articles that must appear in the final search result 2. We will test the search strategy by running the search query in selected database Verify if out standard set of articles appeared in the search result at the retrieval stage 3. Will will search for individual standard or gold article in databases using their title and comingle with boolean operator OR 4. We will also finetune and adapt by ensuring the missing articles at access through adjustment of keywords, Boolean operators, truncation and repetition of the test. Other search strategies 1. We will also use backward citation searching Search strategy justification Selection of the databases were premised on the fact that they have vast scope in relation to sexual and reproductive health issues. Evidence can also be obtained from grey literature. Grey literature will be searched for in Google Scholar. Search string were created premised on the eligibility requirements for the studies and also based on keywords. Individual databases will need some variation in the queries however, some fundamental queries such as "Africa," "Sub-Sahara Africa," "Stealthing," "Non-consensual condom removal," "Reproductive Coercion," "Risk Factors,," "Determinants," "Predisposing Factors," "Contributing Factors," "Protective Factors" "Preventive Measures" and all the African countries. It intend to capture the objectives and the topic Author contact Approach will not be required Expiration or the search will be determined by the pace at which publication are released in the subject area. Continuous update will be made to the scoping Review. Miscellaneous search strategy details The language parameters being English language will be applied throughout. This may led to bias but will allow the theme to be able to identify, access and synthesize the relevant information. Screening stages First duplicates will be removed. This will be done with the assistance of covidence software. Secondly title screening will be done. The reviewers will do that along with the assistance of covidence. Thirdly abstract screening will be done. Reviewers will do that along with the assistance of covidence. Fourthly full text screening will be done by the reviewers along with the assistance of covidence. Screened fields / blinding Topic of the studies, the abstract, authors, year of publication, journal name, and The names of the Journals and the names of the authors will however be concealed from the screeners Screening reconciliation procedure Conflict that arises will be settled by a third review and an expert in the subject area Sampling and sample size All relevant studies will be included Data management and sharing RIS file will be made available available upon request. It will contain the sources from the searches. Miscellaneous screening details Regular meetings will be held to discuss screening and other processes of the Scoping Review Elements to extract 1. Variables: Independent variables: Socio-demographic factors, Institutional factors, Family, Contextual factors factors that are risk or protective factors or associative factors. Values of dependent variables: Stealthing or non-consensual condom removal or Reproductive Coercion Potential moderators 2. Estimations of associations: Will will not estimate association but we will report and synthesize the strength associations as captured in each study 3. Methods: Design of the study Size of the simple Sample characteristics Measures of association 4. Metadata: Authors, institutions, publication year and journal Extraction stages The will be training for extractors. Assessment of Cross-assessor reliability will be undertaken. Moreover, final extraction will take place after cross-assessor reliability has been assessed. Data management and sharing Fills will be shared in CVS format to consolidate transparent and reproducibility principles. Planned data transformations Standardization, recoding or recategorizing Qualitative data, aggregation of qualitative data. Missing data This will be addressed through documenting missing data, sensitivity analysis, Qualitative synthesis, reporting of missing data Data validation Identifying outlier, retraction check, triangulation with other sources, criteria for data validity and dealing with violations Quality assessment Will be carried out through the Utilization of GRADE, GRADE-CERQual and Cochrane's Risk of Bias tool Synthesis plan The following will be done Data Extraction, Thematic Analysis, Mapping Evidence, Interpretation and Reporting Criteria for conclusions / inference criteria This study seeks to map evidence on the risk and protective factors of Stealthing. This will be done by identify existing gaps and enhancing existing evidence. Synthesist blinding Not applicable Synthesis reliability A reviewer will do an independent synthesis and it will be validated by an expert. Synthesis reconciliation procedure Varied views will be reconciled through established modalities to ensure quality and consistency. Publication bias analyses This will be avoided Sensitivity analyses / robustness checks It will be undertaken. Studies with high risk bias and small sample sizes will be assessed to determine their have overall effects. Synthesis data management and sharing Data will be shared publicly. Moreover all relevant information will be stored in a document format Miscellaneous synthesis details The Scoping Review will adhere to the guidelines of Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses Extension for Scoping Review