Prevalence of domestic violence in a time of catastrophic disease outbreaks including COVID-19 pandemic: a systematic review protocol

Background: Domestic violence is a public health issue that has a long-term and irreversible effect on the victims. There are vulnerable groups like children, women, and elders. The problem becomes worse for these populations in the time of catastrophic events including disease pandemics. However, few attempts have been made to systematically review the prevalence and pattern of domestic violence during these times all over the world. Methods: An initial search of PubMed will be followed by CINAHL, Scopus, Google Scholar, Embase, and ProQuest Health. The titles and abstracts of studies will be reviewed, and full-text articles will be selected if the inclusion criteria are met. Studies that meet the eligibility criteria will then be assessed by two independent reviewers. Full-text articles will be selected if the inclusion criteria are met. A standardized critical appraisal checklist for studies reporting prevalence data will be used to assess the methodological quality, and a standardized data extraction tool will be used. The results from the included studies will be analysed using the JBI SUMARI software. Discussion: This systematic review will provide solid evidence on the magnitude of domestic violence of any forms during catastrophic disease outbreaks including the current pandemic, COVID-19.