Faculty of Nursing, University of Alberta, Edmonton Clinic Health Academy, Edmonton, AB, Canada.
Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi, Pakistan.
Front Public Health. 2021 Dec 16;9:761394. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2021.761394. eCollection 2021.
The vast majority (90%) of the world's adolescents aged 10-19 live in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs); and in those resource-limited settings, girls face distinct challenges across multiple health, social, and economic domains. Gender equality and girls' empowerment are key goals in their own right and are central to all other development goals. Digital literacy is a great enabler for the empowerment of young girls. This systematic review aims to assess the range and nature of digital literacy interventions implemented to empower adolescent girls in LMICs and identify evidence about adolescent girls' access and use of digital technologies in LMICs. We conducted a systematic review of studies following Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analysis (PRISMA) standards for systematic reviews. Two reviewers selected studies, conducted quality assessments, and extracted data by using standard forms. The collected data include the design of the study, type of digital literacy intervention, target audience, intervention received, intervention reach, data analysis, and study outcomes. The review is registered with PROSPERO (CRD42020216756). Thirty-five studies met the eligibility for inclusion and of those, 11 were experimental studies (randomized controlled trial = 6; quasi-experimental = 2; before-after with no control = 3), 11 were cross-sectional/descriptive studies, seven studies used a mixed-method approach, and six were qualitative studies on digital literacy interventions to empower young girls in LMICs. The majority of digital literacy interventions were designed and implemented to improve sexual and reproductive health rights and decision-making of adolescent girls in LMICs ( = 33). Only three papers reported the use of digital media for health-related information and decision making, while only one reported on educational and social empowerment. Our findings suggest that digital literacy interventions such as mobile phones, mobile health tools, media exposure, access to the internet, internet-based educational strategies, social media exposure are effective to empower adolescent girls to access health services and information and also enhance the access to educational resources. However, we found inconclusive evidence on the effectiveness of digital literacy to enhance girls' access to financial services and economic empowerment. More rigorous studies with long-term follow-ups to assess the effectiveness of such interventions to empower adolescent girls in LMICs are urgently needed.
绝大多数(90%)年龄在 10-19 岁的青少年生活在中低收入国家(LMICs);在这些资源有限的环境中,女孩在多个健康、社会和经济领域面临着明显的挑战。性别平等和赋予女孩权力本身就是关键目标,也是所有其他发展目标的核心。数字扫盲是赋予年轻女孩权力的重要手段。本系统评价旨在评估在中低收入国家实施的增强青少年女孩权能的数字扫盲干预措施的范围和性质,并确定有关中低收入国家青少年女孩获取和使用数字技术的证据。我们按照系统评价和荟萃分析(PRISMA)标准的首选报告项目进行了系统评价。两位评审员通过使用标准表格选择研究、进行质量评估和提取数据。收集的数据包括研究设计、数字扫盲干预类型、目标受众、干预措施、干预措施的覆盖范围、数据分析和研究结果。该综述在 PROSPERO(CRD42020216756)上注册。35 项研究符合纳入标准,其中 11 项为实验研究(随机对照试验=6;准实验=2;无对照前后=3),11 项为横断面/描述性研究,7 项采用混合方法,6 项为关于中低收入国家增强年轻女孩数字扫盲干预的定性研究。大多数数字扫盲干预措施的设计和实施旨在改善中低收入国家青少年的性健康和生殖健康权利和决策(=33)。只有三篇论文报告了使用数字媒体获取与健康相关的信息和决策,而只有一篇报告了教育和社会赋权。我们的研究结果表明,移动电话、移动健康工具、媒体曝光、互联网接入、基于互联网的教育策略、社交媒体曝光等数字扫盲干预措施对于增强青少年女孩获取卫生服务和信息的能力以及增强获取教育资源的能力是有效的。然而,我们发现数字扫盲增强女孩获取金融服务和经济赋权能力的证据尚无定论。迫切需要进行更多具有长期随访的严格研究,以评估这些干预措施在增强中低收入国家青少年女孩权能方面的有效性。
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