This post shows how AI-enabled qualitative research can accelerate and strengthen realist reviews of adolescent-led interventions against the fossil fuel industry, following the PLOS One protocol. Evidano is an AI-powered qualitative data analysis platform that helps researchers analyze interviews, open-ended surveys, and documents. The PLOS One protocol (Deivanayagam et al., published August 13, 2026) frames a realist review that asks what interventions involving adolescents exist, how they work, and under what circumstances they reduce health inequities driven by the fossil fuel industry.
Key Takeaways
According to the PLOS One protocol, youth-led interventions are being reviewed to understand how adolescents can counter fossil fuel industry practices and reduce health inequities (PLOS One).
- The PLOS One protocol was published on August 13, 2026 and defines a realist review to develop context–mechanism–outcome explanations for adolescent interventions (Deivanayagam et al., 2026).
- The PLOS One protocol cites an estimate of 2.5 million annual deaths from outdoor air pollution linked to fossil fuel combustion (figure cited in the protocol; source: Lancet Countdown) and states that 67% of greenhouse gas emissions are attributable to fossil fuel combustion (figures cited in the protocol, 2026).
- The review started October 2024, aimed to complete evidence searches by April 2026, expected results in July 2026, and an overall end date of April 2027, per the protocol's study status (Deivanayagam et al., 2026).
- The protocol applies a structural racism lens and RAMESES realist review standards to prioritise participatory, equity-centred evidence that can inform public health policy (PLOS One, 2026).
What Happened: PLOS One realist review protocol and methods
The PLOS One protocol (Deivanayagam et al., published August 13, 2026) sets out a realist review to identify which adolescent-involved interventions counter the fossil fuel industry's practices and reduce health inequities.
"The fossil fuel industry’s practices and products create wide‑ranging harms to human health, " is the protocol's opening claim, attributed to the study authors (Deivanayagam et al., PLOS One, 2026).
The protocol explains that it will search academic databases (PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, Global Health, GEOBASE), grey literature, and organisational reports and use RAMESES standards to build context–mechanism–outcome (CMO) configurations (PLOS One, 2026).
The protocol also describes participatory governance: a youth advisory board of six racially minoritised adolescents (aged 14–17) and a multidisciplinary expert steering group helped shape the review questions and will co-produce interpretations (Deivanayagam et al., PLOS One, 2026).
Findings Snapshot
| Date | Metric | Value | Implication |
|---|---|---|---|
| August 13, 2026 | Protocol publication | PLOS One | Defines scope, CMO approach, and equity lens |
| 2025 (figure cited in protocol) | Annual deaths due to outdoor air pollution | 2.5 million | Quantifies scale of fossil-fuel-related health burden |
| 2025 (figure cited in protocol) | Share of greenhouse gases from fossil fuels | 67% | Frames industrial contribution to climate health harms |
| 2022 | Health organisations calling for phase-out | 192 organisations | Shows health sector mobilisation against fossil fuels |
| 2023 | Health worker representation supporting transition | 46.3 million workers in an open letter | Demonstrates large-scale professional advocacy |
| October 2024; April 2027 | Study timeline | Start Oct 2024, expected end Apr 2027 | Indicates multi-year realist synthesis and dissemination plan |
Implications for qualitative researchers and public health teams
Qualitative researchers should prioritise theory-driven synthesis, because the PLOS One protocol recommends realist methods to explain how and why adolescent interventions work rather than only whether they work (Deivanayagam et al., PLOS One, 2026).
The protocol recommends extracting context, intervention details, outcomes, and explicit notes on structural racism and equity during data extraction, which means researchers must code for power, participation, and CPA (corporate political activity) dynamics (PLOS One, 2026).
The PLOS One protocol suggests participatory validation: programme theories will be refined in workshops with the youth advisory board and expert steering group, indicating that co-interpretation strengthens external validity across diverse settings (Deivanayagam et al., PLOS One, 2026).
- Use RAMESES standards for appraisal and reporting to meet realist review best practices (PLOS One, 2026).
- Prioritise grey literature and movement ecosystem documents because the protocol explicitly includes organisational reports and campaign materials to build richer CMO explanations (Deivanayagam et al., PLOS One, 2026).
- Track participation level using Hart's ladder as the protocol does, because classification of participation (Rung five and above) is used to interpret degrees of adolescent power-sharing (PLOS One, 2026).
How Evidano Helps
Problem: Large, mixed-source evidence sets slow synthesis
Solution: Evidano automates ingestion and organisation of transcripts, reports, and PDFs to reduce manual preprocessing time.
The PLOS One protocol plans to include academic databases and grey literature; Evidano's document ingestion and searchable repository accelerates screening and early mapping across those sources.
Learn more about capabilities on the Evidano features page: Evidano features.
Problem: Coding consistency across participatory teams
Solution: Evidano provides AI-assisted thematic coding with hierarchical codes and collaborative codebooks so youth advisors and steering groups can co-create and apply codes consistently.
The PLOS One protocol emphasises iterative IPT refinement with a youth advisory board, and Evidano's shared workspaces and versioned codebooks support co-analysis and reproducible CMO building.
Problem: Transcription, translation, and PII in movement documents
Solution: Evidano supports transcription with custom dictionaries and PII redaction plus translation with custom dictionaries to preserve local terms and participant language.
The PLOS One protocol includes non-English documents and planned translation; Evidano's transcription and translation tools reduce preprocessing errors and speed inclusion of multilingual grey literature: Evidano speech-to-text and Evidano translation.
Problem: Synthesising CMO configurations and visualising relationships
Solution: Evidano produces thematic, frequency, and cross-segment analyses and visualisations (co-occurrence networks and hierarchical code maps) that accelerate identifying mechanisms and contexts.
The PLOS One protocol plans to produce visual summaries of CMO configurations validated in workshops, and Evidano's exportable visuals make workshop validation more efficient and transparent.
FAQ: AI qualitative research for youth climate interventions
What is a realist review and why use it for youth climate interventions?
A realist review explains how and why interventions work by developing context–mechanism–outcome configurations, and the PLOS One protocol uses this to prioritise causal explanation over binary effectiveness judgments (Deivanayagam et al., PLOS One, 2026).
The protocol argues realist methods are suited to complex, politically embedded interventions such as youth advocacy because they trace how mechanisms are triggered in different contexts and with different levels of adolescent participation (PLOS One, 2026).
What data sources will the PLOS One review include?
The PLOS One protocol will search academic databases (PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, Global Health, GEOBASE) and purposively include grey literature and organisational reports such as UNICEF and Fridays for Future (Deivanayagam et al., PLOS One, 2026).
The protocol states no geographic or language restrictions and plans to translate non-English documents for inclusion, reflecting a broad evidence approach (PLOS One, 2026).
How can AI accelerate thematic synthesis of CMO configurations?
AI can accelerate thematic extraction, clustering, and cross-segment comparisons so researchers can test and refine programme theories more quickly than manual-only workflows, a need identified in the PLOS One protocol's plan for iterative IPT refinement (Deivanayagam et al., PLOS One, 2026).
The protocol emphasises iterative theory development with stakeholders; AI-assisted coding and visual analytics enable faster cycles of synthesis and validation while preserving human judgement for explanation-building.
How does the protocol address equity and structural racism?
The PLOS One protocol explicitly applies a structural racism lens and prioritises studies that describe racialised disparities and participatory, anti-racist interventions to inform equitable programme theories (Deivanayagam et al., PLOS One, 2026).
The protocol describes using Devakumar et al.'s conceptual model on racism and health during synthesis to ensure macro-level power hierarchies are central to interpretation (PLOS One, 2026).
Conclusion & Next Steps
The PLOS One protocol (Deivanayagam et al., published August 13, 2026) outlines a realist, participatory review to explain how adolescent-involved interventions can counter the fossil fuel industry and reduce health inequities.
AI-enabled qualitative research tools can reduce time spent on transcription, coding, and cross-segment synthesis, freeing researchers to focus on theory refinement and participatory validation as the protocol recommends.
If you run realist or participatory qualitative syntheses, consider a workflow that combines RAMESES standards with AI-assisted coding and collaborative visualisation: learn more about our approach and features at Evidano features.
When you are ready to try an AI-accelerated qualitative workflow, Try Evidano for free.
Topics
- AI qualitative research for youth climate interventions
- qualitative analysis of youth climate advocacy
- realist review qualitative analysis
- AI-assisted thematic analysis
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