UKHF Online Resources Guide. A selection of online public health databases

Transcription

1 UKHF Online Resources Guide A selection of online public health databases

2 About us The UK Health Forum (UKHF), a registered charity, is both a UK Forum and an international centre for the prevention of avoidable chronic diseases including coronary heart disease, stroke, cancer and diabetes. The UKHF undertakes policy research and advocacy to support action by government, the public sector and commercial operators. As an alliance, the UKHF is uniquely placed to develop and promote consensus-based healthy public policy and to coordinate public health advocacy. The UKHF is also an authoritative information provider on all aspects of chronic disease prevention. Emma Hughes Information Officer

3 Introduction The project developed from a previous spread sheet made for internal use within the UK Health Forum. The spread sheet listed a select number of databases holding public health information and analysed their usefulness. This guide is an updated version of the former. This resource is intended to help people find the best information in public health. Each resource was analysed for content and ease of use. Databases discussed are: Database on obesity and sedentary behaviour studies Bibliomap ELDIS DoPHER PHICED CDC HFA-DB TRIP Policy Depot Epistemonkis PANacea/ GLOBALink UKHF Prevention, Information and Evidence library Inclusion criteria: English speaking (though translations available for some). Generally specific to public health (changing health with a population focus). Database and directories with links to the items (even if full text is not provided). Excluded: Cochrane Library, PubMed and NHS Evidence excluded. As big databases as we presume people are more familiar with these.

4 Obesity and Sedentary Behaviour This is a database specifically covering the topics (yes, you guessed it!) obesity and sedentary behaviour. The database is made up of 326 studies specifically looking at the relationship between the two. EEPI-centre is the host website and the same features as other EPPI-centre databases are found here.. Pros: All studies have been assessed and coded before entered onto the database. Studies are categorised by characteristics of each study, for example by gender or location and you are able to cross tabulate results. Cons: Unfortunately this database has not been updated since 2009, with no indication of the next update.

5 BIBLIOMAP Bibliomap is a database of health promotion research. Subjects covered include public health, health inequalities, epidemiology and health promotion. Information is available in the form of systematic reviews, research, reports and books. Pros: You can map your search results and cross tabulate your findings. Bibliomap will produce a report or table of frequencies depending on which information or data you want to get. Cons: Search results will not always supply full text items. The database is quite clunky and not particularly intuitive to use at first.

6 ELDIS ELDIS aim is to share best practice in development, policy and practice. In doing so they hold 26,000 full text documents all free to download. Subjects include food security, climate change, agriculture and aging populations in the form of research, policy briefings, tool kits and case studies. Pros: You can browse by topic or country and ELDIS also provides recommended reading guides which cover the key documents per topic (according to ELDIS). You can also subscribe to RSS feeds and receive daily updates. Cons: You can only search ELDIS via a selection of topics and countries rather than a free text or keyword search, which is good for browsing but not for specific searching. Note: ELDIS does not cover a global list of countries but more those from developing countries and the southern hemisphere.

7 DoPHER Database of Promoting Public Health Effectiveness Reviews Subjects on DoPHER include health promotion, public health, policy, epidemiology and social science. Information is available in the form of systematic and non-systematic reviews, book and reports. DoPHER is, like Bibliomap, run through EPPI-Centre and therefore looks very similar and has similar search functionality. You are able to perform key word searches from categories provided or perform a free text search. You can combine searches as well as cross tabulate and map your search results. DoPHER has the additional function of being able to select results based on the review quality. Pros: All resources of DoPHER database are reviewed by information professionals before inclusion and are often handpicked from the internet and other databases giving assurance to the quality of information available. Cons: A with Bibliomap, it is clunky and the help guide was not very clear. The database is updated quarterly; whilst this is more up to date than some, it may not be as current as you require.

8 Public Health Interventions Cost-effectiveness database (PHICED) PHICED is a database built into the National Library of Public Health. Bibliographic records include costeffectiveness studies, NICE guidelines and design tools. It covers the subjects alcohol, obesity, physical activity and tobacco. Inclusion criteria for the database are; items must be written in English and of relevance to the UK. As a result items are generally from Australia, Europe and New Zealand. Pros: Once your initial search has been performed you can select the types of results you want to view e.g. tools & guidance. Cons: PHICED doesn t allow for free text searches or advanced searching, but you can browse through their collection of keywords and filter by country or patient group. At the time of writing PHICED was last updated in September 2011.

9 CDC Centre for Disease Control CDC website holds all resources produced by CDC. CDC claims to provide reliable health information for public health professionals, policy researchers and anyone with an interest in the subject areas. Though it is not exclusive to public health information it covers all topic areas including alcohol, obesity, smoking and environmental health. Resources available include guidelines, recommendations, reports and statistics. Pros: New documents are added to the site every two weeks. CDC site performs full text searches. Cons: You can only search using keywords however, you can narrow down search results via facets.

10 HFA-DB European Health for all database A statistical database covering demographics, health status, health determinants, risk factors and health care resources in 53 countries of the WHO European region. HFA-DB gathers data from WHO, EUROSTAT, United Nations and OECD. Pros: This database can be used online or downloaded to your desktop to use offline. Cons: HFA-DB claims to update the data twice a year but, at time of writing, there appears to be no data past As all countries differ in the way they record and handle data it means that availability and accuracy of data from countries will vary, making comparison unreliable. I recommend visiting the relevant page of the website for more information. Presumably due to the above, some sample searches I performed did not have any data past 2010.

11 TRIP TRIP is a clinically based search tool to help practitioners identify high quality clinical evidence to impact on practice. For in depth searches and to save searches you will need to register with TRIP, but this is free to do. Pros: Once you have performed a search, not only will TRIP come up with results from its own database but it will also provide you with associated results from Medline, the BNF and other sources. Searches are easily filtered and in general the database is straightforward to use. Results are colour coded by format which allows for easy filtering by resource type. You can translate results from English into Portuguese, Italian or Welsh!

12 Epistemonikos Epistemonikos aims to provide rapid access to systematic reviews in health. Epistemonikos (previously PDQ-Evidence) holds systematic reviews, policy briefs and primary studies (though only primary studies that have been included in systematic reviews). Epistemonikos systematically searches PubMed, Cochrane, NICE guidelines and other databases for its content. Inclusion criteria is included on the website and new records are added everyday. Pros: Epistemonikos is multilingual, including English, Spanish, French, Arabic and Chinese. Cons: Initially searching will search with all the keywords given, but as you scroll through the results will gradually show results containing any keywords.

13 Policy Depot Policy Depot acts like a social network for policy professionals. It is a closed community that provides resources, best practices and opportunities for online networking with peers. In order to gain access to their resources you need to register with them. The registration process is quite lengthy, but reason being that it can tailor your profile so you only receive information relevant to your topics of interest. It will also allow you to connect with peers of similar interests and areas. Pros: Tailoring of interests upon registration. Cons: Navigation could be improved, I found it hard to find resources. Resources seem to be limited, but I believe that you can only see resources within the areas of interest you select when registering. In performing a search for tobacco it retrieved 10 documents which ranged from dates This may improve over time.

14 Services provided by UK Health Forum We hope you found this guide helpful. The next slides cover the range of services and databases provided for free by the UK Health Forum. This ranges from websites hosted by the UKHF; PANacea and GLOBALink as well as our Prevention Information and Evidence (PIE) library and current awareness services.

15 PANacea & GLOBALink repositories Though different repositories from a content point of view their appearance and functionality are the same, therefore it seems appropriate to discuss the two together. GLOBALink is a closed network for those working in tobacco control. Therefore the repository holds items on all things to do with tobacco control. PANacea is a closed network for those with an interest in alcohol, nutrition and physical activity. Both networks will require registration and this is a straightforward process however, you will require two references in order to access the network. The repositories are meant for members of the community to upload and share resources with peers. You can map your resources which also enables you to view resources globally via the map. Helpful how to guides are provided if anything is unclear. Free keyword searching. Can sort results by date or country.

16 UKHF Prevention, Information and Evidence library UKHF Prevention, information and evidence (P.I.E.) library is a searchable online database of information on noncommunicable diseases. It is compiled by information professions at UKHF. Content includes research and grey literature, all items are critically appraised before being added to the elibrary. The elibrary does not necessarily hold full text of items, but will link to them where possible. You can download your results to create a bibliography. You can keep up to date with the latest content by subscribing to the UKHF briefing services. Keep up with the latest developments at the UKHF in our quarterly enewsletter