Health-seeking behaviour of older women: a protocol for a global scoping review

Background Globally people are living longer and the proportion of older people with health problems is increasing. While women generally outlive men, their additional years are often marked by high levels of morbidity, even as their health needs remain comparatively under-recognised in research, policy and healthcare delivery. To compound this, health-seeking behaviour of older women is also shaped by multiple interacting individual, household, community, socioeconomic and health-system factors that work to delay or hinder timely access to healthcare. The scoping review aims to identify and map factors influencing health-seeking behaviour among women aged 60 years and older globally, examine how these factors are conceptualised across different settings and identify gaps in the existing evidence. This article is the protocol for the proposed scoping review. Methods and analysis Studies published in English from 2021 onwards will be identified through searches of PubMed, Scopus, PsycINFO, IBSS, AgeLine and Google Scholar. Eligible studies will include women aged 60 years and more, from all geographical settings and for all health conditions and will identify all factors influencing health-seeking behaviour. Data will be extracted using a standardised extraction framework. Findings will be synthesised using two complementary frameworks: Andersen’s Behavioural Model of Health Services Use, which categorises predisposing, enabling and need factors, and Penchansky and Thomas’s Five Dimensions of Access, which is adapted to include ‘awareness’ as a sixth dimension. The review will be reported using the PRISMA-ScR reporting guidelines. Ethics and dissemination This scoping review will synthesise data from publicly available published studies and will not involve primary data collection from human participants or access to identifiable individual-level data; thus, ethical approval is not required. The findings will be disseminated through a peer-reviewed publication and may also be shared through academic and policy forums relevant to ageing, women’s health and healthcare access.