Transcultural utility in the implementation of digital SRH interventions in sub-saharan Africa: a scoping review protocol

Background: Digital health interventions (DHIs) have gained momentum in improving access to sexual and reproductive health (SRH) education and services. DHIs are increasingly recognised for reducing healthcare providers' workload, minimizing patients' long waiting times, and decreasing the distance patients must walk to access health care, thereby enhancing the quality of health services. However, the limited cultural adaptation of DHIs has undermined their usability and acceptability for improving SRH education. Evidence in sub-Saharan Africa indicates that DHIs often fall short of achieving the expected outcomes because they lack cultural relevance and are misaligned with local belief systems and sociocultural contexts. Given these gaps, this scoping review aims to systematically map existing SRH education initiatives that utilize DHIs, to assess the extent of cultural adaptation and to identify evidence-based strategies that could enhance transcultural utility in SRH DHIs. Methods and analysis: This scoping review will be guided by the framework of Arksey and O'Malley. A systematic search will be undertaken across major sources, such as PubMed, Scopus, PsycINFO, Web of Science, and other relevant sources. The review selection process will be reported using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews (Prisma-ScR) flow diagram to ensure transparency, and EndNote will be used to eliminate duplicates during the selection of eligible studies. Eligible studies will be screened against predefined inclusion and exclusion criteria, and data will be charted to capture key characteristics, and by paying particular attention to cultural adaptation strategies of SRH-focused DHIs. Findings will be synthesised to map the current evidence base and highlight gaps for future research and practice. Clinical Trial Registration: This scoping review protocol was registered with Open Science Framework and can be accessed at https://osf.io/fx75p.