Violence in sub-saharan african schools: A scoping review protocol

Abstract Background: Violence in schools is an intersectional, multifaceted and complex global phenomenon that impedes gender equality and transformation, disrupts learner progress, familial and school environments and constitutes a public health, educational, social and human rights challenge. According to the United Nations (UN) study on Violence against Children, violence in schools refers to sexual and gender-based violence (GBV), bullying, gang-related violence (GRV), school and community-related violence, verbal, physical and psychological violence that includes fighting and weapons. Literature searches rendered no scoping or systematic results for a complex topic such as violence in SSA schools with catastrophic consequences. Hence, the objective of this scoping review is to map evidence of violence in SSA schools from existing literature over the past decade to summarise findings, identify research gaps, guide future research or determine the feasibility of a systematic review being conducted. Methods: Due to violence in schools being a broad topic our literature searches will include grey literature, unpublished and published studies, empirical studies, all study designs, conference presentations and website content using various keywords to search multiple databases to locate relevant literature. Search engines and electronic databases that will be searched are Google Scholar, PsycINFO (EBSCHO), CINAHL, SCOPUS, EBSCOhost, PsycARTICLES (EBSCO), EMBASE, university libraries, education departments and MEDLINE (EBSCHO). Title and abstract screening will be independently conducted by two screeners to minimise bias. A data charting form, compiled by three screeners using a Google form, will be used to extract relevant information from each article. Two screeners will populate the charting form electronically whilst all four screeners will ensure the charting form is continuously updated. Discussion: We anticipate mapping literature on violence in sub-Saharan African schools. Once summarized, the data will be useful to identify literature gaps, guide future research on school violence or determine the feasibility of a systematic review being conducted.