Savvy Searcher

MEDLINE and PsycINFO: Finding Contextual Information

Contextual information is information relevant to psychological and cognitive development, psychoneuroimmunology, family, cross-cultural medicine, medical ethics, and health economics and policy. If you search MEDLINE regularly, you are probably comfortable using MeSH terms, subheadings, and limit tools to find biomedical and clinical information. Contextual information may be a less familiar domain to research. However, some simple search strategies combined with appropriate terminology can help you start your research.

When you search MEDLINE or PsycINFO, keep a basic framework in mind including:

• Use focus (Major MeSH) on disease concepts and/or contextual concepts
• Do not use focus (Major MeSH) on population groups (Whites, Blacks, etc.) in initial searches.
• For best results, search on several 'contextual concepts' at once. For example, you may create one search set combining Social Class, Cultural Characteristics, and Socioeconomic Factors.

BASIC SEARCH STRATEGIES

- Combine disease search with contextual concept search

1. *Stomach Ulcer/
2. *Socioeconomic Factors/
1 and 2

Example: Levenstein S. Kaplan GA. Socioeconomic status and ulcer. A prospective study of contributory risk factors. Journal of Clinical Gastroenterology. 26(1):14-7, 1998 Jan.

Note: this subheading strategy works in MEDLINE, but not in PsycINFO.
1. *Helicobacter Infections / Ethnology

Example: Malaty HM. Evans DG. Evans DJ Jr. Graham DY. Helicobacter pylori in Hispanics: comparison with blacks and whites of similar age and socioeconomic class. Gastroenterology. 103(3):813-6, 1992 Sep.

- Combine disease search with population group search
1. *Helicobacter pylori or *Helicobacter Infections
2. Hispanic Americans
1 and 2

Example: Malaty HM. Evans DG. Evans DJ Jr. Graham DY. Helicobacter pylori in Hispanics: comparison with blacks and whites of similar age and socioeconomic class.

Gastroenterology. 103(3):813-6, 1992 Sep.

- Combine target population search with contextual concept search for more general information
1. Blacks
2. *Social Class
1 and 2

Example: Krieger N. Rowley DL. Herman AA. Avery B. Phillips MT. Racism, sexism, and social class: implications for studies of health, disease, and well-being. American Journal of Preventive Medicine. 9(6 Suppl):82-122, 1993 Nov-Dec.

SUBHEADINGS
When searching MEDLINE (but not PsycINFO), the subheadings for economics, epidemiology, ethnology, and psychology can be used with disease/condition terminology or contextual terms to focus searches on a particular type of information.

- Add subheading to disease/condition terminology
Helicobacter Infections / Ethnology

- Add subheading to population group
Whites / Psychology

- Add subheading to contextual term
Family / Ethnology

CONTEXTUAL CONCEPTS
The contextual concept subject headings in this section are not exhaustive, but represent starting points to explore different topic areas. Many terms work when searching MEDLINE or PsycINFO. Sometimes however, PsycINFO uses different terminology which is also supplied.

Development of patient over time including psychological and cognitive development
- Child Psychology (Useful for locating general texts)
- Psychiatry (Useful for locating general texts)
- Mental Disorders (Useful for locating general texts)
- Child Development (PsycINFO: Childhood Development)
- Personality Development
- Language Development
- Psychosexual Development
- Human Development
Cognition
- Socialization
- Self concept

Psychoneuroimmunology including mind-body medicine & complementary medicine
- Psychoneuroimmunology
- Alternative Medicine (Note: more specific terms also available, ex. Acupuncture)
- Psychophysiology
- Psychophysiologic Disorders (PsycINFO: Somatoform Disorders or Psychosomatic Disorders)
- Holistic Health

Family & family systems
- Family
- Family Relations
- Family Characteristics (PscyINFO: Family Background)
- Family Health (PsycINFO: not available)
- Professional-Family Relations (PsycINFO: not available)
- Life-Change Events (PsycINFO: Life Experiences)

Cross-cultural characteristics and community medicine
- Cultural Characteristics (PsycINFO: Sociocultural factors)
- Ethnic Groups (PsycINFO: Racial and Ethnic Groups)
- Cross-Cultural Comparison (PsycINFO: Cross Cultural Differences)
- Minority Groups
- Ethnopsychology (PsycINFO: Ethnology)
- Social Class
- Socioeconomic Factors (PsycINFO: Socioeconomic Status)
- Community Medicine (PsycINFO: not available)

Environmental and Occupational health
- Environmental Health (PsycINFO: Environmental Effects)
- Environmental Exposure (PsycINFO: Occupational Exposure)
- Environmental Pollution (PsycINFO: Pollution)
- Occupational Medicine (PsycINFO: Working Conditions)
- Occupational Diseases (PsycINFO: Work Related Illnesses)
- Occupational Health Services (PsycINFO: Occupational Safety)

Medical ethics
- Medical Ethics (PsycINFO: Professional Ethics)
- Communication Barriers (PsycINFO: Interpersonal Communication)
- Physician-Patient Relations (PsycINFO: not available)
Informed Consent
- Physician's Role (PsycINFO: not available)
- Communication
- Confidentiality (PsycINFO: Privileged Communication)
- Decision-Making
- Mental Competency (PsycINFO: Competence)

Health Policy
- Health Policy (PsycINFO: Health Care Policy)
- Health Insurance
- Medical Assistance (PsycINFO: not available)
- Medicaid
- Medicare
- Medically Underserved Area (PsycINFO: Demographic Characteristics)
- Health Services Accessibility
- Delivery of Health Care (PsycINFO: Health Care Delivery)

POPULATION GROUPS
You can search by population group to locate information about a particular ethnic or racial group. The subject terms for some population groups may not be the current preferred group name. For example, to find information on African-Americans, the correct subject headings is 'Blacks.'

Also, while the subject headings for some population groups incorporate a geographic region (ex: Hispanic-Americans), others require additional search strategies outlined below to ensure that you find information about U.S. populations (i.e. Arab population in the U.S. rather than in France). The subject headings for some U.S. population groups are Blacks, Whites, Arabs, Hispanic-Americans (PsycINFO: Hispanics) and Asian-Americans (PsycINFO: Asians).

- Search by population group and United States to focus on information on these population groups in the United States.
1. Blacks/
2. exp United States/
1 and 2

- Combine population group searches with keyword searches.
Note: Keyword searches are denoted by '.mp' after the word or phrase.
Using the truncation symbol ($) retrieves instances of this word/phrase with any ending and thereby retrieves both singular and plural occurrences.
1 Blacks/ and exp United States/
2. African American$.mp
1 or 2