Safeguarding children and strengthening families through the application and utilization of family group decision making: A systematic review protocol

Collen Mafira Ngadhi; Shenaaz Wareley; Patrick Joseph; Chanté Johannes; Gary Spolander; Nicolette Vanessa Roman

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0346794

Peer Review History

Original SubmissionOctober 3, 2025
3 Oct 2025 Author Response Attachments Attachment Submitted filename: Rebuttal Letter for Resubmission to PLOS ONE.docx https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0346794.r001
22 Jan 2026 Decision Letter - Daryl Higgins, Editor Dear Dr. Ngadhi, Thank you for submitting your manuscript to PLOS ONE. After careful consideration, we feel that it has merit but does not fully meet PLOS ONE’s publication criteria as it currently stands. Therefore, we invite you to submit a revised version of the manuscript that addresses the points raised during the review process. Please submit your revised manuscript by Mar 08 2026 11:59PM. If you will need more time than this to complete your revisions, please reply to this message or contact the journal office at plosone@plos.org. When you're ready to submit your revision, log on to https://www.editorialmanager.com/pone/ and select the 'Submissions Needing Revision' folder to locate your manuscript file.. When you're ready to submit your revision, log on to https://www.editorialmanager.com/pone/ and select the 'Submissions Needing Revision' folder to locate your manuscript file.. When you're ready to submit your revision, log on to https://www.editorialmanager.com/pone/ and select the 'Submissions Needing Revision' folder to locate your manuscript file.. When you're ready to submit your revision, log on to https://www.editorialmanager.com/pone/ and select the 'Submissions Needing Revision' folder to locate your manuscript file. A letter that responds to each point raised by the academic editor and reviewer(s). You should upload this letter as a separate file labeled 'Response to Reviewers'. A marked-up copy of your manuscript that highlights changes made to the original version. You should upload this as a separate file labeled 'Revised Manuscript with Track Changes'. An unmarked version of your revised paper without tracked changes. You should upload this as a separate file labeled 'Manuscript'. If you would like to make changes to your financial disclosure, please include your updated statement in your cover letter. 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Read more information on sharing protocols at https://plos.org/protocols?utm_medium=editorial-email&utm_source=authorletters&utm_campaign=protocols.... We look forward to receiving your revised manuscript. Kind regards, Daryl Higgins, PhD Academic Editor PLOS One Journal Requirements: 1. When submitting your revision, we need you to address these additional requirements.-->--> -->-->Please ensure that your manuscript meets PLOS ONE's style requirements, including those for file naming. The PLOS ONE style templates can be found at -->-->https://journals.plos.org/plosone/s/file?id=wjVg/PLOSOne_formatting_sample_main_body.pdf and -->-->https://journals.plos.org/plosone/s/file?id=ba62/PLOSOne_formatting_sample_title_authors_affiliations.pdf-->--> -->-->2. 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Please note that, though access restrictions are acceptable now, your entire data will need to be made freely accessible if your manuscript is accepted for publication. This policy applies to all data except where public deposition would breach compliance with the protocol approved by your research ethics board. If you are unable to adhere to our open data policy, please kindly revise your statement to explain your reasoning and we will seek the editor's input on an exemption. Please be assured that, once you have provided your new statement, the assessment of your exemption will not hold up the peer review process.-->--> -->-->4. If the reviewer comments include a recommendation to cite specific previously published works, please review and evaluate these publications to determine whether they are relevant and should be cited. There is no requirement to cite these works unless the editor has indicated otherwise. ?> 5. Please review your reference list to ensure that it is complete and correct. If you have cited papers that have been retracted, please include the rationale for doing so in the manuscript text, or remove these references and replace them with relevant current references. Any changes to the reference list should be mentioned in the rebuttal letter that accompanies your revised manuscript. If you need to cite a retracted article, indicate the article’s retracted status in the References list and also include a citation and full reference for the retraction notice. [Note: HTML markup is below. Please do not edit.] Reviewers' comments: Comments to the Author 1. Does the manuscript provide a valid rationale for the proposed study, with clearly identified and justified research questions? Reviewer #1: Yes ******** 2. Is the protocol technically sound and planned in a manner that will lead to a meaningful outcome and allow testing the stated hypotheses??> Reviewer #1: Yes ****** 3. Is the methodology feasible and described in sufficient detail to allow the work to be replicable??> Reviewer #1: Yes ****** 4. Have the authors described where all data underlying the findings will be made available when the study is complete??> The PLOS Data policy requires authors to make all data underlying the findings described in their manuscript fully available without restriction, with rare exception, at the time of publication. The data should be provided as part of the manuscript or its supporting information, or deposited to a public repository. For example, in addition to summary statistics, the data points behind means, medians and variance measures should be available. If there are restrictions on publicly sharing data—e.g. participant privacy or use of data from a third party—those must be specified.requires authors to make all data underlying the findings described in their manuscript fully available without restriction, with rare exception, at the time of publication. The data should be provided as part of the manuscript or its supporting information, or deposited to a public repository. For example, in addition to summary statistics, the data points behind means, medians and variance measures should be available. If there are restrictions on publicly sharing data—e.g. participant privacy or use of data from a third party—those must be specified.--> Reviewer #1: Yes ****** 5. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English??> Reviewer #1: Yes ****** Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above and, if applicable, provide comments about issues authors must address before this protocol can be accepted for publication. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about research or publication ethics. You may also provide optional suggestions and comments to authors that they might find helpful in planning their study. Reviewer #1: There is a need to be specific concerning FGC focused on child care in developing countries .There is a need to be specific concerning FGC focused on child care in developing countries .There is a need to be specific concerning FGC focused on child care in developing countries .There is a need to be specific concerning FGC focused on child care in developing countries . ****** what does this mean?). 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If this link does not appear, there are no attachment files.] To ensure your figures meet our technical requirements, please review our figure guidelines: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/s/figures You may also use PLOS’s free figure tool, NAAS, to help you prepare publication quality figures: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/s/figures#loc-tools-for-figure-preparation NAAS will assess whether your figures meet our technical requirements by comparing each figure against our figure specifications. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0346794.r002
Revision 1
18 Mar 2026 Author Response Journal requirements: 1. The manuscript has been formatted in accordance with PLOSONE guidelines, including the title page structure (title, authors and affiliations denoted via superscript numerals, corresponding author contact information) and the overall layout as specified in the provided template. 2. We confirm the statement “The authors have declared that no competing interest exist.” This has been updated in the online submission form and included in the manuscript. 3. In accordance with protocol, no primary data were generated for this review. Extracted data from the final review will be made fully and openly available deposited in the Open Science Framework (OSF) repository linked to our protocol registration. This commitment is explicitly stated in the Data availability statement included in the manuscript (end of manuscript, before references). 4. While the reviewer did not suggest specific publications, we incorporated additional relevant references to provide greater specificity regarding developing countries. We thoroughly reviewed the reference list, ensuring all citations are complete and relevant. No retracted papers have been cited. 5. The reference list was reviewed for completeness and accuracy. No retracted publications were cited. Minor revisions including the addition of digital object identifiers (DOI) where available and the standardization of Vancouver-style formatting. The modifications are detailed in the tracked changes version of the manuscript. Reviewer comments: Reviewer comment: “There is a need to be specific concerning FGC focused on child care in developing countries.” The authors express their gratitude to Prof. Shulamit Ramon for her positive assessment of the protocol’s rationale, technical soundness, feasibility, replicability, data availability and presentation. The suggestion to enhance specificity regarding Family Group Conference (FGC) focused on child care in developing countries is gratefully acknowledged. To address this limitation, the manuscript has been revised in certain sections to emphasize on application of FGDM/FGC in child safeguarding and family strengthening within developing country contexts. For instance, the abstract and introduction highlights unique prevalent in developing nations (resource limitations, informal support mechanisms and implementation deficits). However, we wish to address an important methodological consideration regarding the search strategy. While the reviewer raises a valid point concerning the focus on developing countries, we must balance this specificity against the potential risk of excluding relevant literature that could inform developing country contexts. Limiting the scope to developing country terminology may inadvertently exclude studies conducted in developing nations that offer discussions of implications for low-resource setting or cultural adaptations pertinent to non-Western context. The methods section (eligibility criteria and search strategy) did not incorporate this level of specificity as it may limit the number of eligible studies, potentially resulting in a smaller sample size for inclusion. To reconcile the reviewer's emphasis on developing country specificity with the need to avoid excluding potentially relevant evidence, a two-pronged methodological approach will be adopted. Firstly, a broad primary search without geographic restrictions will capture the entirety of the extant FGDM literature. This approach is essential because restricting the search to developing country terms risks excluding relevant studies from developed nations, such as research on cultural adaptations with minority populations, implementation in resource-constrained community settings, and insights into family engagement that transcend national boundaries. Secondly, a layered analysis framework will address the developing country focus. Initially, all studies from low- and middle-income countries (as classified by the World Bank) will be flagged for primary subgroup analysis, thus providing direct evidence from developing contexts. Subsequently, a secondary analysis will examine developed country studies to identify findings transferable to developing settings, including explicit implications for low-resource environments and cultural adaptations relevant to non-Western family structures. Lastly, a comparative analysis will identify similarities and differences in FGDM outcomes across contexts. Attachments Attachment Submitted filename: Responses to Reviewer.docx https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0346794.r003
24 Mar 2026 Decision Letter - Daryl Higgins, Editor Safeguarding children and strengthening families through the application and utilization of family group decision making: A systematic review protocol. PONE-D-25-52635R1 Dear Dr. Ngadhi, We’re pleased to inform you that your manuscript has been judged scientifically suitable for publication and will be formally accepted for publication once it meets all outstanding technical requirements. Within one week, you’ll receive an e-mail detailing the required amendments. When these have been addressed, you’ll receive a formal acceptance letter and your manuscript will be scheduled for publication. An invoice will be generated when your article is formally accepted. Please note, if your institution has a publishing partnership with PLOS and your article meets the relevant criteria, all or part of your publication costs will be covered. Please make sure your user information is up-to-date by logging into Editorial Manager at Editorial Manager® and clicking the ‘Update My Information' link at the top of the page. For questions related to billing, please contact and clicking the ‘Update My Information' link at the top of the page. For questions related to billing, please contact and clicking the ‘Update My Information' link at the top of the page. For questions related to billing, please contact and clicking the ‘Update My Information' link at the top of the page. For questions related to billing, please contact billing support.... If your institution or institutions have a press office, please notify them about your upcoming paper to help maximize its impact. If they’ll be preparing press materials, please inform our press team as soon as possible -- no later than 48 hours after receiving the formal acceptance. Your manuscript will remain under strict press embargo until 2 pm Eastern Time on the date of publication. For more information, please contact onepress@plos.org. Kind regards, Daryl Higgins, PhD Academic Editor PLOS One Additional Editor Comments (optional): Reviewers' comments: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0346794.r004
Formally Accepted
Acceptance Letter - Daryl Higgins, Editor PONE-D-25-52635R1 PLOS One Dear Dr. Ngadhi, I'm pleased to inform you that your manuscript has been deemed suitable for publication in PLOS One. Congratulations! Your manuscript is now being handed over to our production team. At this stage, our production department will prepare your paper for publication. This includes ensuring the following: * All references, tables, and figures are properly cited * All relevant supporting information is included in the manuscript submission, * There are no issues that prevent the paper from being properly typeset You will receive further instructions from the production team, including instructions on how to review your proof when it is ready. Please keep in mind that we are working through a large volume of accepted articles, so please give us a few days to review your paper and let you know the next and final steps. Lastly, if your institution or institutions have a press office, please let them know about your upcoming paper now to help maximize its impact. If they'll be preparing press materials, please inform our press team within the next 48 hours. Your manuscript will remain under strict press embargo until 2 pm Eastern Time on the date of publication. For more information, please contact onepress@plos.org. You will receive an invoice from PLOS for your publication fee after your manuscript has reached the completed accept phase. If you receive an email requesting payment before acceptance or for any other service, this may be a phishing scheme. Learn how to identify phishing emails and protect your accounts at https://explore.plos.org/phishing. If we can help with anything else, please email us at customercare@plos.org. Thank you for submitting your work to PLOS ONE and supporting open access. Kind regards, PLOS ONE Editorial Office Staff on behalf of Professor Daryl Higgins Academic Editor PLOS One https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0346794.r005

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