Women’s Experiences of Safety Apps for Sexualized Violence: A Narrative Scoping Review
Sexualized violence against women is a significant human rights problem worldwide. Safety apps have the capacity to provide women with resources to prevent or respond to experiences of sexualized violence. The aim of the following study was to review the scope of the literature on women’s experiences of safety apps related to sexualized violence and identify if there is a current gap in this literature.
This scoping review employed a systematic methodology guided by the Arksey and O’Malley framework. The search for this scoping review was conducted in January 2020 and four electronic databases were searched: Embase, MEDLINE, PsycINFO, and Scopus. Reference lists of systematic reviews, scoping reviews, and literature reviews that were found through the search of databases were also checked to ensure all relevant studies had been screened. Last, the table of contents for the last five years (2015–2020) were hand searched in four key journals (Journal of Technology in Human Services, Violence Against Women, BMC Public Health, and Health Promotion International) to identify any articles that may have been missed in the database search. Covidence was used to complete the screening. All data that met inclusion criteria was charted, extracted and synthesized.
Across the four databases searched, a total of 389 studies were identified; 127 duplicates were removed, resulting in 262 studies screened. In total, 6 studies were included from the search of databases and 1 study was included from hand-searching, for a total of 7 included studies. Thematic analysis identified the following themes in the literature, which are summarized narratively: (1) security; (2) accessibility; and (3) knowledge. Recommendations and barriers found in relation to each theme are also presented.
This review confirms that the qualitative literature on women’s experiences of sexualized violence safety apps is scarce and exposes that a gap in the literature on this topic. The gaps in the literature were identified and implications and recommendations for future research are discussed.
Figure 1
Posted 02 Jun, 2020
On 19 Jan, 2021
Received 12 Jan, 2021
Received 09 Jan, 2021
On 15 Dec, 2020
On 15 Dec, 2020
Invitations sent on 11 Jun, 2020
On 21 May, 2020
On 20 May, 2020
On 20 May, 2020
On 19 May, 2020
Women’s Experiences of Safety Apps for Sexualized Violence: A Narrative Scoping Review
Posted 02 Jun, 2020
On 19 Jan, 2021
Received 12 Jan, 2021
Received 09 Jan, 2021
On 15 Dec, 2020
On 15 Dec, 2020
Invitations sent on 11 Jun, 2020
On 21 May, 2020
On 20 May, 2020
On 20 May, 2020
On 19 May, 2020
Sexualized violence against women is a significant human rights problem worldwide. Safety apps have the capacity to provide women with resources to prevent or respond to experiences of sexualized violence. The aim of the following study was to review the scope of the literature on women’s experiences of safety apps related to sexualized violence and identify if there is a current gap in this literature.
This scoping review employed a systematic methodology guided by the Arksey and O’Malley framework. The search for this scoping review was conducted in January 2020 and four electronic databases were searched: Embase, MEDLINE, PsycINFO, and Scopus. Reference lists of systematic reviews, scoping reviews, and literature reviews that were found through the search of databases were also checked to ensure all relevant studies had been screened. Last, the table of contents for the last five years (2015–2020) were hand searched in four key journals (Journal of Technology in Human Services, Violence Against Women, BMC Public Health, and Health Promotion International) to identify any articles that may have been missed in the database search. Covidence was used to complete the screening. All data that met inclusion criteria was charted, extracted and synthesized.
Across the four databases searched, a total of 389 studies were identified; 127 duplicates were removed, resulting in 262 studies screened. In total, 6 studies were included from the search of databases and 1 study was included from hand-searching, for a total of 7 included studies. Thematic analysis identified the following themes in the literature, which are summarized narratively: (1) security; (2) accessibility; and (3) knowledge. Recommendations and barriers found in relation to each theme are also presented.
This review confirms that the qualitative literature on women’s experiences of sexualized violence safety apps is scarce and exposes that a gap in the literature on this topic. The gaps in the literature were identified and implications and recommendations for future research are discussed.
Figure 1