{ "abstract": "Introduction Substance misuse is the harmful or hazardous use of psychoactive substances, including alcohol and illicit drugs. It is a global public health problem projected to rise globally, especially in Africa, over the next decade because of Africa’s relatively young population and population growth. Young people in educational institutions, by nature of their vulnerabilities, pressures and youthful exuberance, become exposed to psychoactive substances early in life. The early exposure to these psychoactive substances leads to health and socioeconomic challenges such as physical and mental health conditions, risky sexual behaviours, violence, antisocial behaviours and death. In 2019, substance use accounted for the death of approximately half a million people globally. Despite these glaring consequences, substance use, particularly in schools, continues to remain high. In Africa, adolescents and young people in schools have been reported to use substances ranging from alcohol, tobacco, cannabis to opioids, codeine and shisha among others. There is also substantial evidence of high levels of substance use among students in Ghana. However, the evidence does not give a comprehensive snapshot of the current state, patterns, extent and factors associated with this phenomenon. This scoping review therefore seeks to map available evidence of substance use among students in Ghana with a focus on prevalence, distribution, types of substances misused and associated factors. This review will inform policymakers of the landscape of substance use among students in Ghana as a basis for targeted interventions.Methods and analysis This scoping review will be based on the Joanna Briggs Institute manual, Arksey and O’Malley framework and Levac et al recommendations for scoping review. The review approach will involve determining the research question, developing the search strategy, determining the inclusion and exclusion criteria, extracting the data and analysing and presenting the findings. The literature will be searched in key databases such as Medline (PubMed), Scopus, Web of Science Core Collections, CINAHL Complete, PsycINFO, African Journals Online and WHO African Index Medicus to find eligible studies from January 2000 to the present. Additional sources for grey literature search will include Google Scholar and institutional repositories. Search results will be supplemented by reviewing the reference lists of included papers to identify other relevant studies on substance use among students. All articles will be independently assessed for eligibility and data from eligible articles will be extracted, analysed quantitatively and qualitatively and findings presented as descriptive and narrative overview.Ethics and dissemination Ethics approval is not required for this review as it will be a secondary analysis of published literature. Results will be disseminated through professional networks, peer-reviewed publications and conference presentations.Trial registration number This protocol has been registered prospectively with the Open Science Framework (https://osf.io/7x9fy/overview?view_only=ab5606074fab42c8bab9ee6be2c6cca0).", "abstract_shown": true, "affiliations": [ "Ghana Field Epidemiology and Laboratory Training Programme, Department of Epidemiology and Disease Control, University of Ghana School of Public Health, Accra, Ghana", "West Africa Regional Office, African Field Epidemiology Network, Accra, Ghana", "St. Elizabeth Catholic Hospital, Christian Health Association of Ghana, Hwidiem, Ghana" ], "article_type": "research article", "arxiv": null, "author_total": 5, "authors": [ { "affs": [ 0, 1 ], "name": "Donne Kofi Ameme", "orcid": "0000-0002-1017-7155" }, { "affs": [ 0 ], "name": "Nana Yaa Adobea Brown" }, { "affs": [ 0 ], "name": "Blessing Enorioware Uteh" }, { "affs": [ 0 ], "name": "Fatoumata Jabbie" }, { "affs": [ 2 ], "name": "Richard Selormey" } ], "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/fg8pd815c0dhn.bib", "cited_by": 0, "doi": "10.1136/bmjopen-2026-125880", "fulltext_url": "https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/16/10/e125880.full", "id": "fg8pd815c0dhn", "issns": [ "2044-6055", "2044-6055" ], "landing_url": "https://bmjopen.bmj.com/lookup/doi/10.1136/bmjopen-2026-125880", "language": "en", "licence": "CC-BY-NC-4.0", "licence_label": "CC BY-NC 4.0", "licence_source": "article", "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/", "metadata_licence": null, "native_subjects": [ [ "heading", "1506" ], [ "heading", "1712" ], [ "heading", "Mental Health" ], [ "heading", "Protocol" ], [ "lcc", "R" ], [ "openalex", "2713|Substance Abuse Treatment and Outcomes" ] ], "openalex": "W7223324714", "pdf_url": "https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/bmjopen/16/10/e125880.full.pdf", "pmcid": "PMC13711601", "pmid": "42919587", "published": "2026-10-23", "publisher": "BMJ", "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/fg8pd815c0dhn.ris", "sources": [ { "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:19:44Z", "native_id": "10.1136/bmjopen-2026-125880", "source": "crossref", "url": "https://bmjopen.bmj.com/lookup/doi/10.1136/bmjopen-2026-125880" }, { "first_seen": "2026-10-30T13:44:16Z", "native_id": "7da18ec0f70c4896939ca0c8ea3e7772", "source": "doaj", "url": "https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2026-125880" }, { "first_seen": "2026-10-31T12:22:21Z", "native_id": "PMC13711601", "source": "pmc", "url": "https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2026-125880" } ], "subjects": [ { "field": "medicine", "origin": "openalex:2713|Substance Abuse Treatment and Outcomes", "subfield": "epidemiology-public-health" } ], "title": "Mapping the landscape of substance use among students in Ghana: a scoping review protocol", "title_text": "Mapping the landscape of substance use among students in Ghana: a scoping review protocol", "type": "peer-reviewed", "updated_at": "2026-10-31T12:22:21Z", "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/fg8pd815c0dhn", "venue": "BMJ Open", "versions": [] }