Involving adolescents in the design, implementation, evaluation and dissemination of health research: an umbrella review protocol

Abstract

IntroductionA lack of awareness on how to engage adolescents in research has been reported as one of the barriers to meaningful youth involvement in health research. Currently, available guidelines on youth involvement are limited in terms of the scope (e.g., focused on limited health research areas), content (e.g., include broad principles) and context (e.g., most guidelines are from high-income countries) for which the guidelines are applicable. To address this, we will develop a set of comprehensive guidelines based on consolidated evidence on youth involvement in health research. To inform these guidelines, we are first conducting an umbrella review to (1) summarise and synthesise findings from reviews on involving adolescents in health research, (2) consolidate the challenges experienced in youth involvement and the recommendations to mitigate these challenges, (3) identify best practices and (4) identify gaps and methodological weaknesses in the extant literature on involving adolescents in health research.Methods and analysisWe will include review articles exploring adolescents’ involvement in studies aiming to improve their physical or mental health. Databases to be searched include Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System Online (MEDLINE), Scopus, Embase, PsycINFO, PsycArticles, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), Epistemonikos and Health Systems Evidence. A grey literature search will be conducted in Web of Science, ProQuest, Google Scholar and PROSPERO, supplemented by a handsearch of the reference lists of eligible reviews, relevant journals, websites of related organisations and input from experts. Data will be analysed using narrative synthesis.Ethics and disseminationEthical approval is not required as we are not collecting participant data as part of this review. The findings of this umbrella review will be disseminated through peer-reviewed publications, participatory workshops and academic conferences.PROSPERO registration numberCRD42021287467.

An umbrella review of reviews on challenges to meaningful adolescent involvement in health research

“…21 The detailed methodology of this review has been described in the protocol paper of this umbrella review. 22…”

“…We follow the Preferred Reporting Items for Overviews of Reviews statement in reporting of this paper 21 . The detailed methodology of this review has been described in the protocol paper of this umbrella review 22 …”

The Double-Edged Sword of AI Writing Tools

“…Various frameworks [46,47] have been proposed to enable this, and they emphasize the importance of providing adolescents with age-appropriate information, creating safe spaces for them to express their views, and giving due weight to their opinions in accordance with their age and maturity. However, challenges remain in effectively implementing these frameworks [48]. Policymakers must work to overcome these challenges and ensure that adolescents have meaningful opportunities to shape the policies and practices that affect their lives in an AI-driven world.…”

Toward a decolonial developmental science in Asia: Exploring adolescent development in communities from the majority world

“…In an umbrella review by Warraitch et al. (2024), the authors discovered that adolescent involvement in the research process had many positive impacts on young people (including increased knowledge and skills, financial benefits, and career and academic growth) and on the relevance of the research to adolescents (for example improved recruitment and more adolescent friendly materials). They also noted benefits to the researchers themselves, including through shifts in their attitudes.…”