Migration is a complex global phenomenon, with millions of people relocating each year driven by various social or personal reasons. Among them, refugees and asylum seekers form a particularly vulnerable subgroup, often forced to escape conflicts, persecution or life-threatening conditions. Most mental health assessment tools, originally developed in high-income countries and validated primarily in Western populations, may lack the cultural validity needed for this demographic. The primary objective is to systematically review and synthesise the psychometric properties and cultural validity of mental health assessment tools validated for refugees and asylum seekers. Secondary objectives are to (a) identify the range of mental health symptoms these tools assess and (b) describe the geographical coverage in terms of the regions of origin and host countries where tools have been validated.

Reported in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) 2020 guidelines, the review will conduct searches across different databases (ie, MEDLINE, Embase, Web of Science Core Collection, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, PsycINFO, Global Index Medicus, CINAHL and Scopus), from inception to January 2025, with no restrictions on language. We will include validation, adaptation or diagnostic accuracy studies, as well as any other study design that reports at least one psychometric property of a mental health assessment tool. Two pairs of reviewers will screen, extract and appraise each study independently. Methodological quality will be assessed with the COSMIN (COnsensus-based Standards for the selection of health Measurement INstruments) Risk-of-Bias checklist for measurement studies and QUADAS-2 (Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies-2) for diagnostic accuracy studies; the certainty of the evidence per property will be graded using the COSMIN-GRADE (Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation) approach. Narrative synthesis will be performed for all properties; where appropriate, meta-analyses will pool Cronbach’s α (Fisher-Z), intraclass correlations and sensitivity/specificity estimates using random-effects models. Inconsistency will be explored with subgroup analyses and meta-regressions; publication bias will be investigated with funnel plots and Egger’s test when ≥10 studies are available.

Ethical approval is not required for this systematic review, as no empirical data will be collected. Results will be disseminated through a peer-reviewed publication in a scientific journal and presented at relevant conferences.

CRD42024510901.

Preventing online and offline sexual harassment (SH) is a public health priority, due to its worldwide magnitude and short- and long-term consequences to the victims and survivors. Universities are environments that may facilitate different forms of conflicts, including SH, but they also play a key role in preventing and addressing them. This paper describes ‘Uni4Equity’, a European project funded by the CERV-2022-DAPHNE Programme of the European Union (Ref. 101094121-Uni4Equity) aimed to reinforce universities’ readiness to identify, map and respond to online and offline SH at workplace and other relevant settings (classrooms, digital space), with an explicit (but not exclusive) focus on minority social groups. More specifically, the project will address the research needs of conducting multidimensional diagnosis of SH at universities (scale and determinants) as a basis for preventive actions; assessing the effectiveness of preventive interventions such as social media campaigns and training workshops; creating a university culture that actively rejects SH; improving access to existing support services; and contributing to the acknowledgement of universities as an asset in preventing this issue.

The project follows an exploratory sequential design for the period 2023–2026. In phase 1, a mixed-method initial assessment based on online surveys, semistructured interviews and desk reviews is planned in six targeted universities: University of Alicante, Adam Mickiewicz University (AMU), University of Maia, University of Applied Sciences Burgenland (UASB), University of Antwerp (UAntwerp), University of Verona. Phase 2 integrates long-term and large-scale interventions at different levels of prevention (primary, secondary and tertiary) and implementation (interpersonal, institutional and social). These interventions combine online and offline training programmes addressed to students and staff, arrangements with internal and external support services and improvements in access to information and resources, including SH protocols and regulations. Phase 3 consists of qualitative and quantitative evaluations of the different Uni4Equity interventions and a final evaluation of the global impact of the project.

Ethical approval was obtained by the different universities research ethics committees (Universidad de Alicante, vice-rectorate for research: Ref. no. UA-2023-03-27; Università di Verona, Comitato di Approvazione per la Ricerca sulla Persona: Ref. no. UNIVR-24/2023; UAntwerp, Ethics Committee for the Social Sciences and Humanities: Ref. no. EX_SHW_2023_38_1; AMU, Ethics Committee for Research Involving Human Participants, Ref. no. UAM_19/2022/2023; UASB, Ethics Committee: Ref. no. UASB _28/08/2023; Universidade da Maia, Conselho de Ética e Deontologia: Ref. no. UMAIA_ 151/2023).

The research team will disseminate findings through peer-reviewed journal articles, presentations in scientific national and international events, policy briefs, infographics, videos and short reports.