The proposed scoping review will be conducted in accordance with the JBI methodology for scoping reviews,9 as well as the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses extension for scoping review (PRISMA-ScR) checklist (see Additional file 1). This protocol is based on the JBI SUMARI protocol template for scoping reviews.10
Search strategy
The search strategy will aim to locate both published and unpublished studies.
An initial limited search of MEDLINE, PsycINFO and Global Health was undertaken to identify articles on the topic. The text words contained in the titles and abstracts of relevant articles, and the index terms used to describe the articles were used to develop a full search strategy consisting of a combination of keywords and subject headings for the three concepts of ‘mother’, ‘cancer’ and ‘children/adolescents’. This search strategy will be applied to MEDLINE, PsycINFO and Global Health via the Ovid interface, CINAHL via EBSCO and the Social Science Citation Index on the Web of Science. Slight adaptations will be used for each included database as necessary (see Additional File 2). The reference lists of all identified reviews on the topic, while not included in the scoping review itself, will be screened for additional studies. Reference lists of included studies will also be screened.
Unpublished studies and other grey literature will be sought by contacting experts in the field, searching relevant organizations’ websites including the World Health Organization (WHO), United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Maternal and Child Health Research Unit (MRU) and Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC). A Google search will be done using incognito browsing and a prespecified limit of 10 pages.
Literature published in any language will be included in the screening stage to get an idea of the scope of articles internationally, but due to limitations in translation only studies written in the English language will be included in the full text review. From the preliminary search we found that interest in this topic exploded in the last two decades.4,11 There have also been significant changes to traditional family structures and to treatment and prognosis of cancers in the last twenty years. The inclusion criteria are therefore restricted to literature published from 2001 onwards.
Study/Source of Evidence selection
Following the search, all identified citations will be collated and uploaded into EndNote version 20 (Clarivate Analytics, PA, USA) and duplicates removed. Following a pilot test, all titles and abstracts will be uploaded to Rayyan systematic review software (Veritas Health Innovation, Melbourne, Australia). All titles and abstracts will then be screened by two or more independent reviewers for assessment against the inclusion criteria for the review. Potentially relevant sources will be retrieved in full. Full texts that are not readily available will be sought via EndNote. The full text of selected citations will be assessed in detail against the inclusion criteria by two or more independent reviewers. Reasons for exclusion of sources of evidence at full text that do not meet the inclusion criteria will be recorded and reported in the scoping review. Any disagreements that arise between the reviewers at each stage of the selection process will be resolved through discussion, or, where necessary, with an additional reviewer. The results of the search and the study inclusion process will be reported in full in the final scoping review and presented in a PRISMA-ScR flow diagram.12
Data Extraction
Data will be extracted from papers included in the scoping review by two or more independent reviewers using a data extraction tool on Excel 2019, developed for the purpose of this review. The data extracted will include specific details about the participants, concept, context, study methods and key findings relevant to the review questions.
A draft extraction form is provided (see Additional File 3). The draft data extraction tool will be piloted using 10 studies and modified and revised as necessary. It will be further revised as necessary during the process of extracting data from each included evidence source. Modifications will be detailed in the scoping review. Any disagreements that arise between the reviewers will be resolved through discussion, or with an additional reviewer. If appropriate, authors of papers will be contacted to request missing or additional data, where required.
Data Analysis and Presentation
Data on the geographic distribution of studies will be analysed and presented as a map using graphic information system (GIS) software. The data relating to the other research sub-questions will be presented in tabular form. A narrative summary will accompany the tabulated and mapped results and will describe how the results relate to the review’s overall objective and sub-questions. A table summarizing the included studies will be included in the review.