Discipline of Public Health Medicine, School of Nursing and Public Health, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Howard College Campus, 2nd Floor of George Campbell Building, Durban, 4001, South Africa.
Department of Social Science, Gender and Education, School of Education, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Room 01-032, 121 Marianhill Rd, Pinetown, Durban, 3605, South Africa.
Syst Rev. 2020 Mar 9;9(1):52. doi: 10.1186/s13643-020-01309-6.
In sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), malnutrition remains a major public health challenge, particularly among children under 5 years of age. Despite nutritional screening tools being developed and available to detect early malnutrition in under five-year-old children, malnutrition continues to be a health concern. However, the level of evidence on nutritional screening tools for predicting early malnutrition at the community level in a high disease burden setting is unclear. The objective of this scoping review is to systematically map the evidence on malnutrition screening tools for children under 5 years in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and to identify knowledge gaps.
The proposed study will be guided by an improved Arksey and O'Malley's framework, Levac et al. 2010 recommendations, and the 2015 Joanna Briggs Institute guidelines. We will conduct a systematic search of relevant imperial sources of evidence from the following databases: CINAHL with full text, Academic search complete via EBSCOhost, Google Scholar, Science Direct, and PubMed. We will search for grey literature from the following humanitarian and aid organization websites: World Health Organization (WHO), The United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF), and governmental departments. Following the database searches and title screening, eligible sources of evidence will be exported to an EndNote X9 reference library. Thereafter, duplicate articles will be removed in preparation for abstract and full article screenings. Data from the included sources of evidence will be extracted, and the emerging themes will be analyzed. The relationship between the emerging themes and the research questions will be critically examined. The quality of the included sources of evidence will be determined by using the Mixed Method Appraisal Tool (MMAT) version 2018. The search results will be presented in adapted Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis: Extension for Scoping Reviews chart (PRISMA-ScR).
We anticipate finding relevant literature on malnutrition screening tools for children under 5 years in SSA. This study is likely to reveal research gaps, which could guide future research on malnutrition screening tools.
在撒哈拉以南非洲（SSA），营养不良仍然是一个主要的公共卫生挑战，特别是在 5 岁以下儿童中。尽管已经开发并提供了营养筛查工具来检测 5 岁以下儿童的早期营养不良，但营养不良仍然是一个健康问题。然而，在高疾病负担环境下，针对社区层面的 5 岁以下儿童营养不良筛查工具的证据水平尚不清楚。本范围综述的目的是系统地绘制撒哈拉以南非洲（SSA）5 岁以下儿童营养不良筛查工具的证据图谱，并确定知识空白。
本研究将遵循改进的 Arksey 和 O'Malley 框架、Levac 等人 2010 年的建议以及 2015 年 Joanna Briggs 研究所指南。我们将从以下数据库中系统地搜索相关的实证来源：CINAHL 全文、EBSCOhost 学术搜索综合版、Google Scholar、Science Direct 和 PubMed。我们将从以下人道主义和援助组织网站搜索灰色文献：世界卫生组织（WHO）、联合国儿童基金会（UNICEF）和政府部门。在数据库搜索和标题筛选之后，合格的证据来源将被导出到 EndNote X9 参考库中。此后，将删除重复的文章，为摘要和全文筛选做准备。从纳入的证据来源中提取数据，并分析出现的主题。将批判性地检查出现的主题与研究问题之间的关系。纳入证据来源的质量将使用混合方法评估工具（MMAT）版本 2018 来确定。搜索结果将以适应的系统评价和荟萃分析扩展清单（PRISMA-ScR）图表呈现。
我们预计将在撒哈拉以南非洲发现有关 5 岁以下儿童营养不良筛查工具的相关文献。本研究可能会揭示研究空白，从而为未来的营养不良筛查工具研究提供指导。
