Individual Participant Data Network Meta-analysis of psychosocial interventions for survivors of intimate partner violence: Study protocol

Abstract

Many systematic reviews and meta-analyses have been conducted in the field of Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) and the evidence shows small to moderate effect sizes in improving mental health. However, there is considerable heterogeneity due to great variation in participants, interventions and contexts. It is therefore important to establish which participant and intervention characteristics affect the different psychosocial outcomes in different contexts. Individual Participant Network Meta-analysis (IPDNMA) is a gold-standard method to estimate the effects with the highest precision possible and estimate moderating effects, compare the effectiveness of the different interventions and thus answer the question of which intervention is best-suited for whom. We will conduct an IPDNMA of randomised controlled trials (RCTs) of psychosocial interventions for IPV survivors aimed at improving mental health, well-being, risk-lowering and intervention acceptability outcomes compared to any type of control (PROSPERO registration number: CRD42023488502). We aim to establish a collaboration with the authors of the eligible RCT, to obtain and to harmonise the Individual Participant Data of the trials, and conduct an one-stage IPDNMA will be conducted under a Bayesian framework using the multinma package in R, after testing which characteristics of the participants and interventions are effect modifiers. There are however inherent limitations of IPDMAs, such as depending on data availability and missing nuancing through the harmonisation of variables. We aim to address these possibly by creating pseudo-IPD and sensitivity analyses. This approach is novel in the field and it can inform more efficient clinical and policy-related decision making.