LibGuides: Sociology and Politics: Public Health Resources

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This page is designed to direct Public Health students to key information sources.

You may also find useful resources in the following subject guides when researching public health:

Key journal databases for Public Health

APA PsycInfo This link opens in a new window
This database is published by the American Psychological Associations and provides comprehensive indexing and abstracts of the international psychological literature from the 1800s to the present. Documents indexed include journals, articles, books, dissertations and more. 90% of the 3,000+ titles indexed in APA PsycINFO® are peer-reviewed.

Coverage: 1806 - current
SCOPUS This link opens in a new window
Scopus is a comprehensive, multi-disciplinary abstract and database curated by subject matter experts. Scopus is also a citation index, which means that the records in the database contain information on citations made in that publication and it links that information so you can identify which publications have cited that one, and how many times a publication has been cited.
Web of Science This link opens in a new window
Web of Science provides access to a collection of databases. The default search is of the Web of Science Core Collection, which includes the Science Citation Index, Social Sciences Citation Index, Arts & Humanities Citation Index, Conference Proceedings Citation Index and Emerging Sources Citation Index. This enables you to search scholarly journals, books and proceedings in the sciences, social sciences, and arts and humanities and navigate the citation network.
By clicking on the drop-down menu next to ‘Search in:’ you can choose to search other databases: BIOSIS Citation Index (1969-2008), KCI-Korean Journal Database, Medline, Preprint Citation Index and SciELO Citation Index.
PubMed This link opens in a new window
PubMed
PubMed is a free to use life sciences database. The resource is maintained by NCBI (National Center for Biotechnology Information, USA). PubMed also has a login option if users want to save searches and add items to collections, but this means you need to use an external third party login, such as a Microsoft or Google account. There is no Hallam Library login to PubMed available via the institution login with SHU login details.
PubMed includes abstracts and citations to over 37 million articles. Some of the abstracts include the full text for anyone to view within PubMed. If the article is abstract only, click the SHU Links button to see if we have it in the library collection.
PubMed is a search tool to access citations, abstracts and links to full-text journals at web sites of participating publishers. Including over 15 million citations from journals and covers 4,800 biomedical science journals.
MEDLINE (Ebsco) This link opens in a new window
MEDLINE provides authoritative medical information on medicine, nursing, dentistry, veterinary medicine, the health care system and pre-clinical sciences.
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Created by the National Library of Medicine, MEDLINE uses MeSH (Medical Subject Headings) indexing with tree hierarchy, subheadings and explosion capabilities to search citations from over 4,800 current biomedical journals. Included are citations from Index Medicus, International Nursing Index, Index to Dental Literature, HISTLINE, SPACELINE, PREMEDLINE, AIDSLINE, BIOETHICSLINE, and HealthSTAR.
Cross search available with all EBSCO databases, select Choose Databases and tick those you wish to add to your search.
CINAHL Complete This link opens in a new window
Cinahl Complete with Full Text, the authoritative bibliographic database for nursing and allied health, provides full text for 1350 journals. alternative link
Coverage is from 1937 onwards and also includes books, nursing dissertations, conference proceedings and standards of practice.Cross search available with all EBSCO databases, select Choose Databases and tick those you wish to add to your search.
Applied Social Sciences Index and Abstracts (ASSIA) This link opens in a new window
Index and abstracts for health, social services, psychology, criminology, sociology, economics, politics, race relations and education. Currently contains over 312,000 records from 650 journals in 16 different countries, including the UK and US. Coverage is from 1987 onwards. Updated monthly, with more than 1500 records added per update.

Health scales and questionnaires

APA PsycTests This link opens in a new window
This database is published by the American Psychological Association and provides bibliographic, plus full text and multimedia of psychological tests from the early 1900s to the present. Test records include descriptive summaries of the test and its development and administration, mostly drawn from articles in peer-reviewed journals or books, with downloadable tests. 75% of the test records contain the actual test or test items.

The National Searching Guidance

The Searching and Training Forums Wiki
Incorporating the London, KSS, and SWIMS Searching and Training Forums, this site is a resource for searchers and trainers in NHS library services. It was originally developed by the Kent, Surrey and Sussex NHS Library and Knowledge Services Searching and Training Forum.

Resources for evidence-based research

Image credit: Duke University

If you are looking for quick access, freely available, evidence-based information then search one of the resources below.

Cochrane Library This link opens in a new window
The Cochrane Library contains high-quality, independent evidence to inform healthcare decision-making. It includes reliable evidence from Cochrane and other systematic reviews, clinical trials, and more.
Cochrane reviews bring you the combined results of the world's best medical research studies, and are recognised as the gold standard in evidence-based health care.

PubMed Clinical Queries
Citations for systematic reviews, meta-analyses, reviews of clinical trials, evidence-based medicine.
DARE (Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects)
DARE (Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects) is focused primarily on systematic reviews that evaluate the effects of health care interventions and the delivery and organisation of health services.
PLEASE NOTE: DARE content not updated after 31st March 2015. May be useful for historical content searching.

TRIP This link opens in a new window
TRIP is a useful database for locating health research. It enables cross-searching of a wide range of evidence-based resources.

Evidence for Policy & Practice Information Centre
The Evidence for Policy & Practice Information (EPPI) Centre is a team of researchers and professionals based at University College London who conduct systematic reviews across health, education, welfare and other public policy sectors and provide support, training and guidance for others seeking to undertake systematic reviews.

NIHR Evidence

NIHR Evidence
NIHR Evidence select research studies funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research that are likely to be of interest to the public and professionals and inform changes to policy or practice. They write up the findings in plain English and highlight the difference they could make.

NIHR Evidence provide:

Alerts – summaries of single NIHR research studies
Collections – summaries of several NIHR research studies within a specific theme or health and care topic

You can browse content related to particular conditions or issues, or search using the search bar and filters.

This resource should not be seen as a substitute for finding and reading primary research articles yourself, since it has a relatively small collection, does not allow you to build a search strategy, and will not contain the same level of detail as the original research articles. However, it can be useful for quickly getting a sense of some of the research in a particular health or social care area.

Sociology and Politics

About this page

Key journal databases for Public Health

Health scales and questionnaires

The National Searching Guidance

Resources for evidence-based research

NIHR Evidence

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