Migrant and refugee youth perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights in Australia: A Systematic Review Protocol

Migrant and refugee youth (MRY) in Australia face specific experiences that inform their sexual and reproductive health and rights. Migrant and refugee communities experience poorer health outcomes, have lower health service uptake and have culturally-informed understandings of sexual health. Additionally, youth are particularly vulnerable to poor sexual health. This paper details a study protocol for a systematic review of evidence on how Australian MRY understand and construct sexual and reproductive health and rights. A systematic review of available literature will be conducted and reported as per Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. A systematic search of nine databases – Medline, EMBASE, CINAHL, APAIS, ProQuest, PsycInfo, Web of Science, SCOPUS, and PubMed – from January 2000 onwards will be undertaken. Hand searches for further relevant studies, including grey literature, will be conducted. Two reviewers will independently screen titles, abstracts and full-text articles against selection criteria. The Mixed Method Appraisal Tool (MMAT) will be used to assess the quality of included studies. Thematic synthesis methods will be used for data extraction and synthesis, aided by QSR NVivo 12. The proposed systematic review will synthesize evidence on how Australian migrant and refugee youth construct and understand sexual and reproductive health and rights, as well as the factors shaping these constructions. The synthesis will fill existing gaps in understandings of how migrant and refugee youth make decisions and understand their rights. Gaining youth perspectives will provide crucial information on how practice and policy can be improved to deliver to this population.