Influencers of effective behavior change communication interventions delivered by community health workers in adults: A Scoping Review Protocol

Abstract Introduction Behavior Change Communication (BCC) serves as a key pathway for delivery of messages for modifying risky behaviors such as unsafe sex, tobacco use, consumption of unhealthy diet and sedentary lifestyle. Behavior Change Communication has been successfully applied in various health conditions, settings and on different participants. In Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs), the delivery of BCC is achieved through Community Health Workers (CHWs) due to limited availability of medical personnel. Current evidence indicates that delivering such interventions through CHWs is a promising approach to achieve desired behavior change and has potential to be upscaled. However, unavailability of information regarding the applicability of these interventions at different community settings, health conditions, and medium for intervention delivery, has made upscale and implementation a challenge. This scoping review will summarize the scope of settings, communication channels, and characteristics of message delivery protocols of behavior change communication interventions targeted at adults delivered via CHWs. Methods and analysis The scoping review methodology framework outlined by Arskey and O’Malley will guide this review. We will search the following databases, MEDLINE, ERIC, JSTOR, ScienceDirect, using pre-defined search strategy. We will include studies published in English language, without any limits on the time of publication. Firstly, titles and abstracts will be screened, followed by full-length articles, for inclusion in the review. We will extract the data in a well-defined template developed for the purpose. All the reviewers will synthesize the evidence regarding and present the results using descriptive statistics and narrative. Ethics and dissemination This review is being conducted as a part of a doctoral thesis approved by the institutional ethics committee. The results of this scoping review will be disseminated in the form of peer-reviewed publication, and presented in conferences and will be used to design behavior change intervention to be introduced in community. Strengths and limitations This will be the first scoping review to scale the community settings where behavior change communication interventions have been delivered. This review will also scale the characteristics of such interventions, viz, modality and medium of communication, and duration and periodicity of interventions. This review will only include articles published in English language across the named freely searchable databases. Assessment of quality of the included studies is beyond the scope of this review and hence will not be carried out.