Toward evidence-informed medical curricula: A scoping review protocol on social skills and emotional regulation

Medical education is considered psychologically challenging, and medical students often report higher levels of psychological distress compared to non-medical students and the general population. This scoping review aims to identify and map the available scientific evidence on social skills and emotional regulation in medical students, characterize existing studies, identify knowledge gaps, and provide a synthesis of evidence to inform educational practice and curriculum development. This scoping review will follow the methodological frameworks proposed by the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) and the PRISMA-ScR checklist. Relevant studies will be searched in electronic databases (EMBASE, ERIC, PubMed, Science Direct, Scopus, and Web of Science) and gray literature sources. The search strategy will use descriptors in English, Portuguese, and Spanish, combined with Boolean operators. Two reviewers will independently screen titles, abstracts, and full-texts for inclusion. Data will be extracted using a standardized form and synthesized narratively. Qualitative and quantitative analyses, including thematic analysis and meta-analysis analysis (if appropriate), will be employed to provide a comprehensive overview of the evidence. The review will provide a comprehensive overview of the available scientific evidence on social skills and emotional regulation in medical students, identifying study characteristics, knowledge gaps, and areas for future research. The findings of this scoping review may inform educational practice and guide the development of strategies to promote the well-being and performance of medical students by addressing social skills and emotional regulation in medical curricula. The review protocol will be registered in the Open Science Framework (OSF).