Central themes, core concepts and knowledge gaps concerning social media use, and mental health and wellbeing among adolescents: a protocol of a scoping review of published literature

Abstract

Introduction The use of social media has risen steadily since its introduction in the early 2000s, and today there are between 2 and 3 billion users worldwide. Research on the link between use of social media and mental health has resulted in a vast number of studies covering diverse aspects of the link between them. The existing body of knowledge on use of social media, and mental health and well-being among adolescents is complex and difficult to follow. In this paper, we present a protocol for a scoping review to systematically identify and summarise the central research foci and knowledge gaps in the research field of social media use, and mental health and well-being among adolescents. Methods and analysis The current scoping review will adhere to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews. The first step is to search relevant databases for eligible studies. Relevant databases are CINAHL, Ovid Medline, Embase, PsycINFO, Sociological Abstracts, Sociological Services Abstracts, ERIC, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, CRD (Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects), NHS EED, HTA and Epistemonikos. Next, two reviewers from the research team will independently screen the identified studies for eligibility. Data extraction and data synthesis will be performed and result in summarised themes based on the findings. Ethics and dissemination A scoping review can be described as a method of gaining an overview and understanding of a research area, with its strengths and weaknesses, and as it involves peer-reviewed and published articles, a scoping review does not require ethical approval. We expect that the results from the current scoping review will produce a consolidated overview of existing studies and research gaps, and gather this knowledge into a coherent review. The results will be disseminated through relevant journals and conferences.