Research Resources

OTdirect: Links: Research Resources

• Literature Search Facilities
• On-line Journals
• Specific Medical Conditions
• Online Medical Textbooks
• Medical Encyclopaedias and Dictionaries
• Assistance with Statistics

If you know of other useful resources, please let us know using the feedback form at the bottom of the page.

Literature Search Facilities

• College of Occupational Therapists (Free to BAOT members) Free literature searching for BAOT members (greatly improved response times -- now able to process literature search requests within 3 weeks) and an enquiry service for anyone with a legitimate interest in OT. Includes AMED, CINAHL, The Cochrane Library; HMIC; OTDBASE; OT Bibsys. The COT's website has undergone a major overhaul and will offer access to the library catalogue for members and an enquiries facility as well the existing literature searching and photocopy supply services.
• OTseeker Database that contains abstracts of systematic reviews and randomised controlled trials relevant to occupational therapy and evidence-based practice.
• OT CATS (Critically Appraised Topics) "A critically appraised topic (or CAT) is a short summary of evidence. It is like a shorter and less rigorous version of a systematic review, summarising the best available research evidence on a topic". This site is a new database of OT-related CATs.
• NELH: National Electronic Libraries for Health (free) A one-stop portal to a wealth of research resources including ZETOC, with "approximately 20,000 current journals and 16,000 conference proceedings published per year. With around 20 million journal and conference records, the database covers every imaginable subject in science, technology, medicine, engineering, business, law, finance and the humanities.".
• MEDLINE (free) at the National Library of Medicine (US) "...more than 11 million articles published in 4300 biomedical journals." Includes abstracts (not always) and sometimes links to the full text.
• PubMed Huge searchable journal database with directory of online journals and links to full text articles.
• Social Care Online Searchable database for social care related journals (inc. BJOT). Abstracts viewable. Replaces the defunct Electronic Library for Social Care.
• Be Evidence Based Searchable database of key findings from critically appraised research in the field of Social Care, managed by the Centre for Evidence-Based Social Services.
• NLM Gateway allows users to search in multiple retrieval systems at the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM). The current Gateway searches MEDLINE/PubMed, OLDMEDLINE, LOCATORplus, MEDLINEplus, DIRLINE, AIDS Meetings, Health Services Research Meetings, Space Life Sciences Meetings, and HSRProj. (US -- National Libraries of Medicine).
• The Cochrane Library Searchable database of evidence-based practice research articles. Abstracts only, but full text available for subscribers. Includes The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (CDSR), The Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effectiveness (DARE), The Cochrane Controlled Trials Register (CCTR), Health Technology Assessment Database and The NHS Economic Evaluation Database.
• ResearchWeb Searchable social care research database including CareData Abstracts. Although social work oriented, includes much useful data for occupational therapists.
• ingenta Journals Free search of a range of journals. Password required but registration is free. Charge for full texts.
• Center for International Rehabilitation Research Information and Exchange Searchable database of rehabilitation research published outside USA. Free, without registration, includes abstracts.
• National Rehabilitation Information Center (NARIC) Free literature search facility and -- bonus -- you can sign up for monthly emailed reports of newly published research on a comprehensive range of specific topics. Thanks to Susan Lin for this listing.
• Ingenta Journal search facility. Title only, no abstracts. Password required but registration is free. Charge for full texts. Articles can be ordered on-line. Includes AJOT, AOTJ, BJOT, CJOT, J.Occ.Sci., OTWeek, and many more. Includes the database previously known as UnCover, which is offered as an alternative search option.
• Ingenta Select Searchable database of journals with facility to order texts. Previously known as CatchWord
• BIDS Searchable database of journals. Academic users only. Password required.
• CINAHL
  • CINAHL (Not free -- Password required) database searchable on the silverplatter website for a subscription fee.
  • CINAHL.com (Not free -- Password required) also offers a search facility, but you need to buy a certain number of hours of membership first. There is a free demonstration facility also.

    Check if any library to which you have access carries CINAHL before paying out cash.

• OTDBASE OT Journal Search Service. It does charge a fee, but there are occasional open house days.
• findarticles.com: a search facility that locates full articles for on-screen viewing, includes many health-related journals.
• BUBL (free) searchable database of many relevant journals but not the main OT ones. Includes citations and abstracts.
• CancerLit "CANCERLIT® is a bibliographic database that contains more than 1.5 million citations and abstracts from over 4,000 different sources including biomedical journals, proceedings, books, reports, and doctoral theses" References and abstracts -- not full articles. Free.
• AEGiS: Huge, searchable information database on HIV and AIDS. Unlikely that you won't find what you're looking for here.
• COPAC (free) Gives access to the online catalogues of some of the largest university research libraries in the UK and Ireland.
• NMAP Searchable directory of internet resources in Nursing, Midwifery and the Allied health Professions.
• AMED : allied and complementary medicine database Bibliographic database from the British Library.
• Wiley Interscience Searchable index of Wiley journals, including International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry; Muscle & Nerve; Research in Nursing & Health; American Journal of Industrial Medicine; Movement Disorders and others. Abstracts available, and full text if you register. Registration is free.

Other resources

• Practical Use of Research Methods for Health Professionals course study guide from York St John College.
• OMNI offers free access to a searchable catalogue of internet sites covering health and medicine.
• McMaster Occupational Therapy Evidence-based Practice group.
• SOSIG: Social Science Information Gateway Searchable index of social science internet resources (mainly websites, or journal home pages, not individual articles). Free.
• UK Healthcentre is a searchable index of health care web sites and has a comprehensive list of online journals.
• Bandolier Evidence Based Heathcare Database. Unfortunately, it doesn't include an occupational therapy category.
• British Library Publications Catalogue allows you to search the British Library.
• Zetoc provides access to the British Library's Electronic Table of Contents of current journals and conference proceedings.
• National Statistics Searchable statistical information including health surveys.
• NDAD UK National Digital Archive of Datasets. I found nothing of direct relevance to OT.
• The Data Archive of the University of Essex: 'a specialist national resource containing the largest collection of accessible computer-readable data in the social sciences and humanities in the United Kingdom. Through these web pages it is also possible to search the catalogues of other national archives for computer readable data and to use the services of the Data Archive to acquire these data on your behalf.'
• Research in Practice www.rip.org.uk Ê: "connecting practice and research to meet the needs of children and families". More social work than OT, but with some relevant items.

Sites that require a password

Most of the following are available only to academic users with institutional accounts. If your college does not have an account with a useful-looking service, pressurise them to get one.

• OTDBASE (not free -- password required, charged to individuals at $50 US pa) offer a literature search service covering all the main OT journals. The advantage of this is that services such as Medline include only some of the OT journals. There is a fee, but they do run occasional 'open house' sessions when you can search the database free of charge.
• OT Search (Not free -- Password required) Search facility includes all the main OT journals, run by AOTA. UK OTs should note that this search facility is one of those included in the free literature searches run by the COT for BAOT members.
• OCLC Firstsearch General bibliographical search facility. Password required. Academic users only.
• Index to Theses Searchable database of theses accepted for higher degrees since 1970. Password required. Academic users only.
• Edina Bibliographic search facilities. Password required. Academic users only.
• Ebsco e-journal service. Includes AOTJ and Scandinavian J.OT.
• Jstor e-journal service. Not directly relevant to OT.

Statistics

I have not thoroughly tested the calculators listed, so you are recommended to check the results. Please let me know of any successful or problematic sites using the feedback form at the bottom of the page.

• Cornell University Statistics helper Guides you through a set of questions that will choose the appropriate statistical test. Very useful.
• Georgetown Linguistics Chi Square Calculator Will calculate your Chi-square scores online.
• web-online-surveys.com allows you to generate a web-based survey and mail the URL to the people you wish to survey. I don't know how questons of confidentiality are resolved.
• Statpac.com Downloadable shareware statistics calculator programme. Includes Spearman, Chi-Square, simple linear regression, etc. Also includes a tutorial on questionnaire and survey design.
• www.speedsurvey.com allows you to generate email surveys if you know the email addresses of the people you wish to survey.
• Hyperstat online a guide to statistics with links to online calculators.
• Guidelines for creating better questionnaires

Last updated: 30th September 2006. Editor: Mike Griffin, OT (field of practice: community physical disability, UK). Any opinions expressed are the author's own unless otherwise stated. © Copyright OTdirect.co.uk 2003. All material is subject to copyright. Feel free to use it for any non-profit purposes, within your professional judgement, but commercial use is forbidden without permission.

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