This research used a scoping review, which is methodologically similar to a systematic review, to provide a rigorous knowledge synthesis.23-24 For the purpose of this study, the scoping review framework used was described by Arksey and O’Malley25 as a five-step process with an optional sixth step. These steps include: (a) identifying the research question, as the starting point and as the launching point to guide the search strategy; (b) identifying relevant studies, which involved the development of a comprehensive search strategy to ensure accurate and complete results; (c) selecting studies, which involved developing a-priori inclusion and exclusion criteria that were revised throughout the review, as familiarity with the evidence increased; (d) charting the data, which involved charting and sorting key material from the results into themes and trends; (e) collating, summarizing, and reporting the results, which involved presenting the results as a visual and/or narrative; and finally, (f) consulting with relevant stakeholders, which is contingent upon feasibility as well as time and resource considerations. For the purposes of this research, the sixth step was not performed.
Review Protocol, Team, and Expertise
To ensure transparency, rigour, reproducibility, and consistency, a-priori protocols were developed for the inclusion criteria, search protocols, and data characterization utility form. These are available upon request. The scoping review was conducted by a team of individuals with multi-disciplinary capability in nursing, knowledge synthesis methodologies, and ICTs. In addition, a University librarian was consulted throughout the search term selection process to ensure completeness and accuracy of search terms contributing to a comprehensive and complete search strategy.
Review Question & Scope
Using a scoping review methodology, the following question for this research was addressed: What is the impact of ICTs on the level of women’s empowerment worldwide?
Search Strategy
To ensure identification of relevant and suitable publications, a search strategy was developed a-priori to retrieve evidence from a variety of sources. As per Arksey and O'Malley25, the following avenues were reviewed as part of the search strategy: searching relevant electronic databases, reviewing reference lists of pertinent articles to identify addition sources, and manually searching key journals.
To ensure the search was comprehensive, the following databases, available via the University of Saskatchewan library, were searched on November 30, 2016 and updated on January 1, 2018: Scopus, Embase, ABI Inform, Soc Index, Sociological Abstracts, Gender Studies, Springer Link, PsychInfo, Science Direct, and Academic Search Complete. The COCHRANE Library was also searched for any relevant trials in the trial registry. Limits placed on the search included: English only, no book reviews, publication dated 2012-2017, and the protocol was pretested in Scopus and Soc Index using select key words including “women” and “empowerment” and “technology.” An illustration of the search term strategy can be found in Table 1.
Table 1: Search Term Strategy
Women Search Terms
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ICT Search Terms
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Empowerment Search Terms
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*searched with OR
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“AND”
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*searched with OR
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“ AND”
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*searched with OR
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Wom?n
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Technolog*
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Empower*
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Female*
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Information technolog*
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Disempower*
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Girl*
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"information communications technolog*"
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Barrier*
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Maternal
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"ICTs"
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Enable*
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"social media"
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Self concept
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mobile
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Self efficacy
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handheld
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Capacit*
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telehealth
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Emancipat*
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computer
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Smartphone
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Digital
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|
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Internet
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|
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Telecommunication*
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"world wide web"
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Laptop
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ICT4D
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“web-based”
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Iphone
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|
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Ipad
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|
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Legend: * at end of word = truncation, any number of letters (e.g. capacit* will find
capacity or capacities); ? at end of beginning of word is used to represent one or more other
characters in a search term (e.g. wom?n will find women or woman).
Limits included: 2012-2017, English language, no books/book reviews
Search terms were drawn from the research question and expanded upon based on a cursory search of two databases. To determine the range and breadth of key terms, an initial limited search of two databases was conducted yielding several papers. These papers were then analyzed for similar keywords, definitions, analogies, and index terms that were relevant synonyms to the initial search words.26-27 These additional terms were added to a master list that informed the final search strategy.
The ability of the electronic database search to identify all relevant primary research was verified by hand searching the reference lists of eight key peer reviewed articles and nine key electronic journals that were flagged through the initial test search as well as the main search. The journals were chosen based on their relevance to the research question as well as their scholarly nature. The initial three identified journals were: Community Informatics, Gender and Development, and Journal of Women in Culture and Society. Subsequent journals were identified and selected for a hand-search once the initial search was completed. These were: Gender, Technology & Development, Computers in Human Behaviour, American Journal of Health Behaviour, American Journal of Public Health, and Women’s Health Issues. These journals were then evaluated for additional research potentially not identified via the database search.
Additional grey literature was identified by hand-searching the websites of the Association for Computing Machinery Digital Library Journals and Conference Proceedings, the UN Women, Status of Women Canada, the United Nations Development Programme, the International Center for the Research of Women, the Girls Action Foundation, the Information and Communications Technology Council, the International Telecommunication Union, and the International Development Research Center for primary research reports, guidelines, situation reports, and referenced publications that were not already included.
Study Selection: Relevance screening and inclusion criteria
Inclusion and exclusion criteria were developed a-priori to screen abstracts and titles of citations. Primary research articles were considered relevant if they included women’s empowerment and/or information and communication technology concepts in the title or abstract of the publication. Synonyms for these concepts were created in consultation with the librarian to ensure a robust search strategy for maximum location and inclusion of studies. To ensure the feasibility of the search, specifically related to the number of possible results, the timeframe of 2012-2016 had been chosen, which was later expanded to December 31, 2017 as the review progressed. The results were also filtered to include English only content.
The remaining articles were then reviewed again by applying two additional levels of inclusion criteria. This set of inclusion criteria first focused on technology as an intervention in the study as well as women as active participants in the study, and secondly included how the social determinants of health were present in each study and supported the triad of concepts - women, empowerment, and ICTs.
Study Characteristics, Extraction, and Charting
Each selected article was summarized in a customized data characterization utility form to guide data extraction. The goal of this step was to determine and chart factors to be extracted from each article to help answer the research question.24-25, 28 The charting of data was an iterative and exploratory process in which the data charts were continuously updated to ensure completeness and accuracy.24, 28 Examples of form characteristics included year of publication, country of study, implications for policy and practice, types of ICT interventions, demographics, empowerment (definition, as a design consideration, and measures), and social determinants of health (presence and description within in the study).
The data was then mapped using tabular and visual presentations of the main conceptual categories followed by a narrative summary describing how the results related to the research question and objectives.
Scoping review management and analysis
Any and all potentially relevant citations identified throughout all stages were then imported into EndNoteTM, a reference management software, where duplicates were removed by the program and then double checked, with manual removal by the masters candidate; the list of citations was then imported into a web-based electronic systematic review management platform, DistillerSRTM. The relevance screening up to the data extraction stages were conducted within this software. Two reviewers were used throughout the selection and analysis process to ensure consistency, adherence to the inclusion/exclusion criteria, relevance to the research question, as well as the categorization of data into themes and trends.