Library Session for Health Careers Opportunity Program, Summer 2012

  Presented by Michael Sholinbeck, msholinb@library.berkeley.edu

URL for this web page: www.lib.berkeley.edu/PUBL/SPH/HCOP.html

What Is Public Health?

Contents:

• The Public Health Library, Location, Reference, Off-Campus Access to Library Resources
• Before You Start: Your Topic, the Scope of Your Search, Where to Look
• PubMed Tips
• Beyond PubMed: Other Resources for Finding Journal Articles and More
• Critically Evaluating What You Find
• Using RefWorks to Organize Your Citations and Create Bibliographies

The Public Health Library, Location, Reference, Off-Campus Access to Library Resources

Sheldon Margen Public Health Library: Library Summer hours: M-F 10-5
(Longer hours during Fall and Spring semesters)

Reference Services:
In-person come to 1 University Hall (in the basement): Summer Reference Desk hours: M-F 2-4pm
Other options include IM chat (24/7) and email reference.

How to set up off-campus access to library resources (databases, online journals, etc.)

Before You Start: Your Topic, the Scope of Your Search, Where to Look

What causes disease?
My thought process first led me to thinking about the interaction and interdependence of environmental factors (pollution, disasters, outbreaks) and social factors (smoking, obesity, drug use):

  Asthma in West Oakland is caused by and/or made worse by smoking and air pollution.

Then I moved on to thinking a little more broadly:

    » Maybe it is "caused" by inadequate regulation of transportation, energy production, and/or tobacco ...
      » Or by neighborhood characteristics and/or historical racism in housing ...
        » Are genetic factors relevant?
          » What about health insurance disparities which affects access to appropriate prescription drugs?
            » Is lack of appropriate child care services for working women a factor?

Is your topic researchable?

1. "The harmful effects of domestic beer consumption among students at Cal's Big Game"
2. "Health effects of binge drinking among college students in the United States"
3. "Alcohol consumption by young adults"

  » It may prove difficult to find research on very narrow topics, or to cope with the vast literature on an un-focused, broad topic.
  » Figuring out the scope of your literature search also helps you decide when you have "enough."

Let's talk about indexing!
» Do you want articles on labor or articles on labor? Or is it labour?

Indexing provides a way to create more precise searches, especially for topics that are vague or ambiguous. Using index terms (sometimes called descriptors; in PubMed they are called Medical Subject Headings, or MeSH) also helps you avoid the need to think of every possible synonym or alternate spelling of your search terms. More on this in the database sections below.

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PubMed Tips

PubMed: Citations to over 21 million journal articles, with links to full text via

PubMed top tips for focusing your search:

1. Combine terms with AND or OR
2. Use Filters (age group, publication type, language, etc.)
3. Search for your term as a word in the title or title or abstract (using Filters)
4. Use MeSH (Medical Subject Headings), with subheadings
5. Use the Related Articles link, once you find a set of relevant citations
6. Try PubMed's Clinical Queries or Topic-Specific Queries

» PubMed Quick Guide: Basic search help.
» PubMed exercise set (PDF; from the Public Health Library)

» Combining search terms with Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT - remember Venn diagrams?)

» Limits: Limit your search by language, age group, publication type, publication date, and more. Also use Limits search for words in the article title, abstract, or Medical Subject Heading (MeSH). Note that Limits stay in effect until you clear them.

» Use Medical Subject Headings (MeSH):

• Searching by using the MeSH Database.
  Remember: think of your concept narrowly. Look at the MeSH definition. Are you interested, for example in "HIV" (a virus) or "HIV Infections" (diseases caused by HIV)?
• All MeSH Categories
  MeSH is hierarchical. This link will show you the top-level categories of MeSH. Click on any category, and you will see how MeSH narrows down. For any MeSH term, clicking on the full display will show you all the available subheadings for that term. As you select terms, add them to the search builder to begin building your search.
• MeSH Qualifiers (Subheadings): Definitions
  Narrow your MeSH searches: asthma/epidemiology looks for articles only on this aspect of asthma, not on other aspects of this disease (such as diagnosis, therapy, psychology, radiology, etc.)
• Consider these subheadings for "cause of disease" searches:
  • epidemiology
  • etiology
  • ethnology
  • genetics
  • etc.
• Besides disease and anatomical terms, MeSH is robust in describing probability and statistical analyses, epidemiologic methods, behaviors and attitudes, and much more.
• Using MeSH is harder with some concepts, like life course or obesogenic environment or health impact assessment. If you can not find a MeSH (or combination of MeSHs) that adequately describe your concept:
  1. Search PubMed using relevant words or phrases in the title or title/abstract
  2. See which MeSHs are used in the best citations you find
  3. Create new searches using those MeSHs
• Click the Tutorials link on the MeSH home page.

» Saving citations temporarily using the Clipboard

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Beyond PubMed: Other Resources for Finding Journal Articles and More      

Remember those PubMed "Top Tips"? Most are applicable to the databases below as well as several other databases.

Agricola
Citations from books, book chapters, journal articles, technical reports, and more. Subjects include agriculture, agricultural economics, nutrition, food assistance programs, etc.
» What's not in PubMed?
    Food security/insecurity, WIC program, etc.

Global Health
Citations in environmental and occupational health, food safety and hygiene, infectious diseases, medical microbiology, nutrition, public health, toxicology, zoonoses, and more. Sources include journals, books, reports, conference proceedings, patents, theses, and electronic only publications. Significantly more international coverage than PubMed.
» What's not in PubMed?
    Search by (relatively narrow) geographic locations (ie, setting), or country in which work published.
» Global Health Database Exercise (PDF)
» Global Health Help (PDF)

PsycINFO
Citations in psychology, behavior, and related disciplines; includes citations of journal articles, conference proceedings, books and book chapters, reports and dissertations.
» What's not in PubMed?
    Economic security, community attitudes, socioeconomic class attitudes, labeling, test/measurement index ...

Sociological Abstracts
Citations in demography, education, law, social psychology, and sociology. Sources include journals, books, conferences and meetings, and dissertations.
» What's not in PubMed?
    Cultural capital, peer relations, victimization, family structure, strategies, neighborhoods, social constructionism, ...
» Sociological Abstracts Exercise (PDF)
» Sociological Abstracts Guide

Web of Science
Large, multidisciplinary database; links to cited articles and times cited are provided for retrieved articles.
» What's not in PubMed?
    Scope of database is broad; best resources for cited reference searching.
» Cited Reference Searching exercise (PDF)
» Search Tips for Web of Science
» Cited Reference Searching

The above are but a sample of the many databases available to find article and other citations.
See the Public Health Library's Indexes and Databases web page for more.
Ask a librarian for help if you are having trouble with your topic.

Use the library catalogs to find books, reports, etc. on your topic. Books, while not often where original research is published, can often provide an overview of a topic and get you started with some key articles.

• OskiCat: Catalog of UCB
  » OskiCat Help
• Melvyl: Catalog of all UC, and beyond
  » Melvyl Help

Information about your community

• State and County QuickFacts
  Quickly get recent state, county, and city demographics (including age, race/ethnicity, income residence) and business information.
• Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System: BRFSS
  BRFSS tracks health conditions and risk behaviors in the United States. BRFSS provides state- and metro area-specific prevalence and trends information about issues such as asthma, diabetes, health care access, alcohol use, hypertension, obesity, cancer screening, nutrition and physical activity, tobacco use, and more.
• CDC WONDER
  Provides a single point of access to a wide variety of public health reports and data systems, both local and external, categorized by topic, alphabetically, or by utilizing online query systems.
  • deaths
  • aging
  • chronic diseases
  • infectious diseases
  • environmental health/exposure
  • births
  • risk behavior
  • immunization
• Kids Count Data Center
  Includes data by state, across states, and some county and city level data. Data can be mapped or graphed. Includes hundreds of measures of child well-being.
• Data and Statistics, California Department of Education
  Data on school enrollment, non-English language learners, free lunch numbers, teacher data, class size, and much more.
• Calif. Dept of Alcoholic Beverage Control: License query system.
  Find liquor stores, bars, etc. by zip code. Can also search by census tract.
• Traffic Data Branch (CalTrans)
  Traffic volumes, truck traffic, and ramp volume for California state highways. View tables, or download data as Excel files.

See also the Public Health Library's Statistical/Data Resources web page

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Critically Evaluating What You Find

What is evidence? Things to keep in mind:

• All research is (potentially) "evidence" and there are no "perfect" studies.
• Is there an agenda (bias)?
  » It's doubtful that any study of humans is totally without some kind of bias, either in the study design, or in the author's pre-existing beliefs, not to mention the source of the research funds. How bias in methodology was controlled and the significance of bias in any particular study is what's relevant.
• Who Pays for Science? (UCB Museum of Paleontology)
  • This web page briefly describes how science research is funded, and the implications of this on science.
• Who is paying for research?
  • Government?
  • Industry/trade groups?
  • Private foundations?
• Look at this article:
  Tanning is associated with optimal vitamin D status (serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentration) and higher bone mineral density:
  • From the conclusion: "... regular use of a tanning bed ... may have a benefit for the skeleton."
  • Compare this to the conclusion of most of these articles.
  • The UV Foundation (as well as the NIH) supported (ie, paid for) this research.
  • The UV Foundation, the Vitamin D Council, and the Sunlight, Nutrition and Health Research Center are research entities supported in part by the indoor tanning industry.
• You can probably find a published study that promotes nearly any conclusion. Identifying a trend using several studies may be a better approach:

"Public health research is incremental, with a body of scientific evidence building up over years or decades. Therefore, while individual studies may contribute substantially to public health decision making, a single study rarely constitutes a strong basis for action."
  - Evidence-based public health, R.C. Brownson, et al., New York; Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011

• Think about the question be addressed by a research paper. Was the right question asked? Consider:
  • "In conclusion, our intervention was shown to be effective to mitigate the problem at hand."
  • "In conclusion, the most effective interventions to use to address this problem are: [ ... ]"
• Also beware of assumptions hidden in the text of a website, research article, etc., that are posited as facts:
  • "As women are more likely to [ ... ] than men, ..."

What to consider when looking at survey or estimated data:
(Adopted from information on the UCSF Family Health Outcomes Project web site.)

• Look at sample sizes and survey response rates - Representative of your population? Enough responses to be valid?
• Who was surveyed? - representative of population being compared to? Include group you are interested in?
• Were the survey respondants from heterogeneous groups? Do the survey questions have a similar meaning to members of different groups?
• How was survey conducted? Via telephone? - Many people only have cell phones. Random selection or targeted group?
• What assumptions and methods were used for extrapolating the data?
• Look at definitions of characteristics - Does this match your own definitions?
• When was the data collected?

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Using RefWorks to Organize Your Citations and Create Bibliographies

RefWorks is a web-based tool that allows users to create a citation database by importing references from online databases. You can use these references in writing papers, and automatically format the paper in any of hundreds of citations styles in seconds. Access to RefWorks is provided by the UCB Library to UCB students, staff, and faculty.

• To use RefWorks, you first must register as a new user. Once you are registered, you can log in at any computer with Internet access.
• To use RefWorks from off-campus, log using the Proxy Server or VPN, or you can log in with the UC Berkeley Group Code (Requires CalNet ID authentication).

RefWorks Exercise Set and Handout (PDF; from the Public Health Library)

Save your search strategies
Nearly all the databases you use to find articles, etc., retain your search history. Literature reviews, like epidemiological research, should be rigorous and reproducible. Save or print your search history to help document your search strategy, which will include:

• the date of the search,
• search terms used (keywords, title words, MeSHs, thesaurus terms, descriptors),
• any limits (eg, language, publication dates) that you placed on your search.
• how many relevant citations you found in each database.

» Using PubMed's Clipboard and My NCBI can help with both saving your search strategy and the citations you find. See links in the PubMed section, above.

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