Literacy Information: discipline - health

Showing posts with label discipline - health. Show all posts

Showing posts with label discipline - health. Show all posts

#wlic2015 preview: graphic novel for HIV/AIDS; geospatial literacy; digital inclusion; indigenous literacy

This is the 2nd batch of links to papers due to be given at the World Library and Information (IFLA) Conference which takes places 15-21 August 2015 in Cape Town, South Africa. There are obviously lots more on other library topics in the IFLA Library as the majority of people do submit their papers in advance. As I said in my last post, if all goes well I will be liveblogging the conference.

COX, Kiersten and GREGORY, Vicki and FLESCHNER, Julius (2015) No One Left-Behind! Teaching Information Literacy in a Different Way to an Urban Population. Paper to be presented at: IFLA WLIC 2015 - Cape Town, South Africa in Session 140 - Metropolitan Libraries. http://library.ifla.org/id/eprint/1132
GAVIGAN, Karen W. and ALBRIGHT, Kendra S. (2015) A Culturally-Targeted HIV/AIDS Graphic Novel for Teen Well-Being. Paper to be presented at: IFLA WLIC 2015 - Cape Town, South Africa in Session 189 - School Libraries with Health and Biosciences. http://library.ifla.org/id/eprint/1148
SALVATORE, Cecilia L. (2015) Indigenous Literacy through Indigenous Cultural Heritage Materials and Resources. Paper to be presented at: IFLA WLIC 2015 - Cape Town, South Africa in Session 168 - Indigenous Matters SIG. http://library.ifla.org/id/eprint/1146
OJARANTA, Anu Helena (2015) A Phase between Two National Core Curricula in Finland – What Are the Implications to Information Literacy Instruction and Library Collaboration?. Paper to be presented at: IFLA WLIC 2015 - Cape Town, South Africa in Session 101 - School Libraries. http://library.ifla.org/id/eprint/1116
REARDON, Siobhan A. and MCCLINTOCK, Autumn and MORAN, Sara S. and NICHOLS, Joel A. (2015) Health Strategies for Public Libraries: How the Free Library of Philadelphia addresses health barriers to literacies. Paper to be presented at: IFLA WLIC 2015 - Cape Town, South Africa in Session 140 - Metropolitan Libraries. http://library.ifla.org/id/eprint/1131
PUN, Raymond (2015) Geospatial Literacy as Digital Literacy: Building GIS Program to Support and Engage with Interdisciplinary and Multidisciplinary Research Communities. Paper to be presented at: IFLA WLIC 2015 - Cape Town, South Africa in Session 140 - Metropolitan Libraries. http://library.ifla.org/id/eprint/1119
AHLQVIST, Elisabet (2015) Digital inclusion in Sweden done in the “Digidel way”. Paper to be presented at: IFLA WLIC 2015 - Cape Town, South Africa in Session 88 - Library Theory and Research with Statistics and Evaluation. http://library.ifla.org/id/eprint/1236
WEBB, Damien (2015) Curating with Community. Paper to be presented at: IFLA WLIC 2015 - Cape Town, South Africa in Session 168 - Indigenous Matters SIG. http://library.ifla.org/id/eprint/1143
Photo by Sheila Webber: honey bee, July 2015

Posted by Unknown Thursday, 30 July 2015 0 comments

EAHIL+ICAHIS+ICLC 2015 links #researchminded

Here are some useful links to material about the European health librarians conference (EAHIL+ICAHIS+ICLC) that I was at a couple of weeks ago.

- There are my own posts about it on my blog.
- Workshop website: https://eahil2015.wordpress.com
- Most presentations from the event are at https://eahil2015.wordpress.com/workshop-presentations-for-download/
- The twitter stream: https://twitter.com/hashtag/researchminded
- Storify by Victoria Cormie https://storify.com/viche/eahil-icahis-iclc-2015-workshop
- Blog post giving a lot of detail about the session on focus groups: https://benchmarkingthreehealthlibraries.wordpress.com/2015/07/01/focus-said-the-focus-group/
- Catherine Voutier blogged several sessions: here, here, here, and here
- Hazel Hall's blog on her keynote: http://hazelhall.org/2015/06/29/incorporating-a-research-minded-approach-to-professional-practice-opening-keynote-at-eahil-2015-researchminded/

- Isla Kuhn's blog posts: here , here , and here
- Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/events/1014174828599539/
- Flickr pool: https://www.flickr.com/groups/eahil2015/pool/
- A blog post in Finnish reporting on the conference
- This paper got tweeted a lot: Anton, B., Woodson, S. M., Twose, C., and Roderer, N. K. (2014). The persistence of clinical questions across shifts on an intensive care unit: an observational pilot study. Journal of the Medical Library Association : JMLA, 102(3), 201–205. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4076130/
Photos by Sheila Webber: the conference dinner at EAHIL+ICAHIS+ICLC, June 2015

Posted by Unknown Tuesday, 7 July 2015 0 comments

New Issue: Information Research: Buddhism, workplace competencies, blogging, cancer patients

The open access journal Information Research (volume 20 no 2) has been published. Articles include:
- Marta Zárraga-Rodríguez and Maria Jesús Álvarez Information practices and competences that evidence information capability in a company
- Nicole M. Gaston, Dan G. Dorner and David Johnstone Spirituality and everyday information behaviour in a non-Western context: sense-making in Buddhist Laos
- Kalyani Ankem Assessing cancer patients' health information needs: a standardized approach
- Jenny Bronstein and Maria Knoll Blogging motivations of women suffering from infertility
- Polona Vilar, Primoz Juznic and Tomaz Bartol Information behaviour of Slovenian researchers: investigation of activities, preferences and characteristics
- Meng-Hsiang Hsu, Chun-Ming Chang, Hsien-Cheng Lin and Yi-Wan Lin Determinants of continued use of social media: the perspectives of uses and gratifications theory and perceived interactivity.
- M. Asim Qayyum and David Smith Learning from student experiences for online assessment tasks.
http://www.informationr.net/ir/20-2/infres202.html
Photo by Sheila Webber: wild strawberries in my garden, June 2015

Posted by Unknown Wednesday, 1 July 2015 0 comments

Improving chances of prostate cancer survival in black African men: information behaviour #i3rgu

Nearly the final session of the i3 conference .The last presentation I attended was authored by Laura Muir and Chikezie Emele, and presented by Emele, on Improving chances of prostate cancer survival in black African men: a study of the information needs of this high-risk group in the UK and S.E. Nigeria
Prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer among Nigerian men: Emele presented some statistics showing the high prevelance, and identified that even this is not likely to show the true extent. There are "health disparities in diseases and mortality in the African rural population", but even the services in the cities are not great. Emele gave some cultural background and also noted that there is a growing shortage of healthcare workers in rural Nigeria (e.g. because of travel difficulty). Therefore it becomes even more important that information is available in other ways (for example through the radio) and not just dependent on healthcare workers. Emele also showed how in the UK awareness may be spread e.g. via official leaflets, whereas in Nigeria he used an example of a van going round raising awareness but also selling a "remedy".
The aim of the research is to develop a deeper understanding of the information behaviour of rural dwellers in South East Nigeria (plus evaluating needs, identifying cultural issues and developing a strategy to improve things). Emele did a pilot study with Nigerian men in the UK. He developed an approach of "on spot interviews" - engaging people in conversation about the research (e.g. having gone to a meeting of a Nigerian association) and then asking them to be interviewed there and then (as it was difficult recruiting people in other ways). Emele also did 2 focus groups.
Moving on to the main study, he did case study research. He used focus group, interviews and observation. The men were found to have little prior knowledge about prostate cancer - many had not heard about it before. Emele found the younger the men were, the less willing they were to see a GP or get tested, thinking that as they were younger, there was no need. The men did not seek health information, but showed interest when shown leaflets and videos. The visually-presented information was more effective, it was more interesting and easier to assimilate. Emele found that interpersonal information from trusted sources (peers and church elders) was preferred.
Emele also found that many men associated prostate cancer with sexually transmitted diseases (perhaps because it was in that area of the body): therefore they feared that their wives would think they had been unfaithful if they talked about testing or symptoms. Health information was, for example, transmitted at second hand via elders, taken from the radio etc. which could lead to misinformation. This also links to underlying problems of illiteracy and poverty.
In summary there was reluctance to find information, there was no available information in the rural communities, most of the men had not heard of prostate cancer and would not recognise the symptoms. Emele concluded that presenting health information in appropriate formats which are culturally accepted is needed, and he is developing a conceptual framework. He aims to extend his approach to other health areas and test it elesewhere.
Photo by Sheila Webber: possibly the final photo of Dunnottir castle ;-)

Posted by Unknown Friday, 26 June 2015 0 comments

Information literacy, evidence-based nursing and belongingness #i3rgu

Liveblogging the second day of the i3 conference held this week at Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, Scotland. Liz Hunwick presented on The role of the NHS library in the adaptation process of internationally recruited nurses from the Philippines: information literacy, evidence-based nursing and belongingness.
There are large numbers of nurses recruited from outside the UK to work in the UK's National Health Service (NHS). There is not research on international nurses information literacy/behaviour. Therefore this study is looking at their behaviour, and the role of the library. The specific context of research is the Basildon and Thurrock University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. There are local and a university-run induction/conversion programmes for nurses recruited by the hospital from other countries. Within this, there are two sessions on research and evidence based practice, but nothing specifically on information literacy.
Hunwick referred to definitions of information literacy and evidence based practice. With the latter, she used a definition which included a step at the start "cultivate a spirit of inquiry". She then talked about the role of the library and its role in evidence based practice. Reviewing the literature on nurses' information behaviour, studies have found that nurses often consult their peers, and there is a strong emphasis on convenience (with a lot of pressures on nurses' time). There are also issues to do with lack of management support, information being at the wrong level, lack of IT resources etc.
Moving on to the idea of "belongingness", Hunwick talked about Levett-Jones' (2009) model of belongingness. Belongingness and learning are linked. The elements in this model resonate with some of the research on good (e.g. inclusive environments) and bad (e.g. isolation, bullying) experiences in nursing.
Hunwick then identified some elements of Filipino culture, in particular how direct confrontation is avoided, and there is the concept of "kapwa" (respect for another person's being). Her own study is a case study with data collection methods including questionnaires, interviews, and observing statistics and logs of library use. A cohort of Filipino 61 nurses arriving at the hospital were targeted (46 of whom responded to the questionnaire part of her research). Themes which emerged from analysis included participants' concepts of IL and EBP, perceptions of the library, and the connection between educational provision and belongingness.
It emerged that the nurses' experience of libraries had been different before (with librarians less welcoming, libraries with more restricted resources). Nurses liked using the NHS library space and equipment like printers and scanners. They used Google most for online searching, and liked to use the library computers for this. The nurses were, generally, reluctant to ask for support, even from their mentors. Most nurses were familiar with the term Evidence Based Practice (EBP) but hadn't been encouraged to practice it in the Philippines.
In interviews, respondents did say how they were likely to say positive rather than negative things, so that has to be borne in mind when looking at results. However, as nurses spent longer in the UK, they became more open in their opinions.
Recommendations emerging from the study included: the vital role of mentors (not fully exploited at present), the need to develop the spirit of inquiry and the characteristics of a lifelong learner, and the need to foster librarians' behaviour and attitudes that encourage the nurses to have a feeling of belongingness.

Levett-Jones, T. and Lathlean, J. (2009). The ascent to competence conceptual framework: an outcome study of belongingness. Journal of clinical nursing, 18, 2870-2879.

Posted by Unknown Wednesday, 24 June 2015 0 comments

Experiencing HIV and AIDS information #i3rgu

More liveblogging day 2 of the i3 conference held this week at Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, Scotland. Kondwani Wella (the third of my PhD students presenting at this conference) is talking about Experiencing HIV and AIDS information: a phenomenological study of serodiscordant couples in Malawi.
He has been investigating how serodiscordant couples (that is, when one partner is HIV positive, and the other HIV negative) experience of HIV/AIDS information in Malawi, using a phenomenological approach. He had 45 participants, 21 couples and three people who had separated because of their HIV status. Their level of education varied from having no formal education, the majority who had primary or secondary education, to one couple where education was at university level. Kondwani described the data collection and analysis process, based primarily on Van Manen’s approach to phenomenological research.
He identified five lifeworld existentials (where they experienced information): lived body (which, for example, might reveal or conceal HIV/AIDS); lived others (e.g. nurses, community, family); lived spaces; lived time (e.g. truncated lifespan) and spirituality (God and ancestral spirits). The last existential was a new thing which emerged specifically from Kondwani’s research.
In terms of HIV/AIDS information availability, for example, there was a lack of availability (with information aimed at couples where both were HIV positive), the HIV negative partner’s needs might be overlooked or denied. There were also barriers e.g. print sources were inaccessible to illiterate people; hospitals etc. had to be travelled to; some information was in English or was too technical.
Kondwani presenting the graphic of his overall conceptual framework for information experience, an iterative model which includes stages of anticipation, filtering, evaluation, interaction, acting on information and reflection.
He finished by identifying some practical implications. Firstly, there needed to be collaboration with faith based organisations (because of spiritua;ity's importance in people's lives). Secondly, HIV/AIDS information services needed to use participative approaches. Thirdly, information communication should aim at informing everyday talk (because the community and family had a big impact on people's lives and behaviour). Finally, information services could use Kondwani's model in designing services.
Photo by Sheila Webber: through a window at Dunnottir castle, June 2015

Posted by Unknown 0 comments

Research minded: understanding, supporting, conducting research #researchminded

I'm liveblogging from the EAHIL + ICAHIS + ICLC 2015 Workshop in Edinburgh: I will be catching up with blogging the workshops at this conference over the next day or two, by the way. In the final plenary today, Dr Liz Grant (Assistant Principal, Director Global Health Academy, University of Edinburgh) talked about Research minded: understanding, supporting, conducting research. She started by quoting T.S. Elliot (the lines "We shall not cease from exploration/And the end of all our rexploring/Will be to arrive where we started/And know the place for the first time". This encapsulated some of her ideas about research and its outcomes.
Grant went on to talk about the goals of the Global Health Academy. It brought together staff, students and practitioners from different disciplines, and had 3 premises. The first was the equality of humanity (but we are born into unequal circumstances, so, you should try and make circumstances more equal for people). The 2nd premise was that many solutions are in the world already, but may be overlooked, perhaps are in unexpected places, or in different place to the one where it is needed. This obviously links to use of information. The 3rd premise was that "people in partnerships bring about change: investing in people to share knowledge across boundaries is essential": there needed to be collaborations across nations and disciplines to meet the many 21st challenges.
Grant went on to talk about the Millenium Development Goals and the extent to which, firstly they have not all been met, and secondly some statistics might be questioned. Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) are about to take over from MDGs: the 3rd of these SDGs is "Ensure healthy lives and promote wellbeing for all at all ages". This SDG3 includes, e.g., goals to do with non-communicable diseases, use of alcohol, infant mortality. However: how can these be achieved? For example "Universal Health Coverage" is seen as essential for "healthy lives for all" but is complex and difficult to achieve. Grant said that her own field was end of life care, and she had seen the cycle of poverty caused by healthcare systems that were not free.
Grant talked about three things that can help. Firstly, "Task shifting transformed to task sharing": this involved recognising the value of different types of skill or task, so there was equality in partnerships. This also involved using information differently, and crossing disciplinary/knowledge silos.
Secondly, there needed to be a "Continuity and continuum of care". She gave the example of newborn and child health, where you had to think of the continuum of support and care, not focusing on vulnerable points (e.g. birth) in a disconnected way. The third and final element was "Quality care that is compassionate": understanding that transmitting knowledge is not enough, and you needed understanding and engagement, so that there could be compassion in the approach to healthcare." You can demonstrate to researchers that using knowledge compassionately is transformative - information doesn't sit on a page"
So, coming back to the Elliot quote, Grant urged us to look in unusual palaces for solutions, to listen, to recognise resources that are there and to partner in equality. Through this, we can take what we have now, and make a change.
Photo by Sheila Webber: plaque for the Scottish writer and physician, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (author of Sherlock Holmes), in the square by the conference venues.

Posted by Unknown Friday, 12 June 2015 0 comments

The NICE Evidence Search Student Champion Scheme

A scheme organised by NICE (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, in the UK) selects students to be student champions, aiming "to improve the routine use of evidence-based information by future doctors, pharmacists, nursing and other healthcare professionals. ... These students receive bespoke training and support to enable them to disseminate information about NICE Evidence Search to their fellow undergraduates in structured hands-on learning sessions." The scheme launched in 2011. Another good example of making students active in information literacy! https://www.nice.org.uk/get-involved/student-champions
Photo by Sheila Webber: One of the Sheffield peregrines feeding the chicks see http://peregrine.group.shef.ac.uk/peregrines/ - at the moment the chicks seem to love huddling in the corner the camera can't see, but there is often a parent bird visible on the perch outside the nest platform

Posted by Unknown Saturday, 23 May 2015 0 comments

New articles: Information Research

The latest issue of Information Research has been published (vol. 20 no. 1, 2015). This issue celebrates 20 years of this open access journal, and the founder and editor, Tom Wilson, comments on its achievements in his editorial.
The issue is at http://www.informationr.net/ir/20-1/infres201.html and includes the following:
Hilary Yerbury: Information practices of young activists in Rwanda
Alisa Howlett and Zaana Howard: Exploring the use of evidence in practice by Australian special librarians
Sook Lim and Nick Steffel: Influence of user ratings, expert ratings and purposes of information use on the credibility judgments of college students
Christine Yates and Helen Partridge: Citizens and social media in times of natural disaster: exploring information experience
Reijo Savolainen: Expressing emotions in information sharing: a study of online discussion about immigration

It also has a supplement at http://www.informationr.net/ir/20-1/isic2/isic2.html with the second part of the proceedings from the 2014 Information Seeking in Context (ISIC) conference. These include
Anindita Paul: Use of information and communication technologies in the everyday lives of Indian women: a normative behaviour perspective.
Heidi Enwald, Noora Hirvonen, Raija Korpelainen and Maija-Leena Huotari: Young men´s perceptions of fear appeal versus neutral health messages – associations with everyday health information literacy, education, and health.
Kyung-Sun Kim and Sei-Ching Joanna Sin: Use of social media in different contexts of information seeking: effects of sex and problem-solving style
Noora Hirvonen, Stefan Ek, Raimo Niemelä, Raija Korpelainen and Maija-Leena Huotari: Socio-demographic characteristics associated with everyday health information literacy of young men.
Ola Pilerot: Information sharing in the field of design research.
Reijo Savolainen: Approaching the affective factors of information seeking: the viewpoint of the information search process model
Shelagh K Genuis: 'The transfer of information through word of mouth is powerful': interpersonal information interactions and personal health management
Sophie Rutter, Nigel Ford and Paul Clough: How do children reformulate their search queries?
Terryl Asla and Kirsty Williamson: Unexplored territory: information behaviour in the Fourth Age
Theresa Anderson and Ina Fourie: Collaborative auto-ethnography as a way of seeing the experience of caregiving as an information practice.
Tom Rosman, Anne-Kathrin Mayer and Günter Krampen: Intelligence, academic self-concept, and information literacy: the role of adequate perceptions of academic ability in the acquisition of knowledge about information searching.
Yan Zhang and Yalin Sun: Users’ link sharing in an online health community.
Stan Karanasios, Carmine Sellitto and Stephen Burgess: Mobile devices and information patterns amongst tourists.
Valerie Nesset: Using empirical data to refine a model for information literacy instruction for elementary school students.
Photo by Sheila Webber: daffodils, Sheffield, March 2015

Posted by Unknown Wednesday, 18 March 2015 0 comments

Librarian co-authors correlated with higher quality reported search strategies in general internal medicine systematic reviews

The title of this paper, just published online, says it all, really:
Rethlefsen, M., Farrell, A., Osterhaus Trzasko, L. and Brigham, T. (2015) Librarian co-authors correlated with higher quality reported search strategies in general internal medicine systematic reviews. Journal of clinical epidemiology. DOI: 10.1016/j.jclinepi.2014.11.025
The aim of the study was "To determine whether librarian and information specialist authorship was associated with better reported systematic review search quality. .... Systematic reviews from high impact general internal medicine journals were reviewed for search quality characteristics and reporting quality by independent reviewers using three instruments, including a checklist of Institute of Medicine Recommended Standards for the Search Process and a scored modification of the Peer Review of Electronic Search Strategies instrument. .... Systematic reviews with librarian or information specialist co-authors are correlated with significantly higher quality reported search strategies. To minimize bias in systematic reviews, authors and editors could encourage librarian engagement in systematic reviews including authorship as a potential way to help improve documentation of the search strategy." http://www.jclinepi.com/article/S0895-4356%2815%2900057-8/abstract

Posted by Unknown Thursday, 19 February 2015 0 comments

Nurses’ and midwives’ information behaviour: a review of literature from 1998 to 2014

A substantial literature review (from one of the PhD students here at the iSchool):
Ebenezer, C. (2015). Nurses’ and midwives’ information behaviour: a review of literature from 1998 to 2014. New Library World, 116 (3/4), .
The findings part of the abstract says "Practitioners within nursing professions have a marked preference for interactive and human sources of information. They habitually associate information seeking with professional development rather than with clinical practice. Lack of time is the most frequently reported problem; also, they frequently lack confidence in searching and appraising the professional literature and in applying research in practice. Cultural factors may inhibit information seeking in the workplace, and access to appropriate information technology may be limited."
A priced publication, the abstract is here: http://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/abs/10.1108/NLW-07-2014-0085
Photo by Sheila Webber: taken in Second Life, January 2015.

Posted by Unknown Wednesday, 18 February 2015 0 comments

Comparison study of specificity and sensitivity in three search tools for qualitative systematic reviews

For those of you interested in systematic review: a recent article:
Methley, A. et al. (2014) PICO, PICOS and SPIDER: a comparison study of specificity and sensitivity in three search tools for qualitative systematic reviews. BMC Health Services Research, 14:579. doi:10.1186/s12913-014-0579-0 There's an open access version at http://www.biomedcentral.com/1472-6963/14/579/abstract
Photo by Sheila Webber: baby carrots, Blackheath market, January 2015

Posted by Unknown Tuesday, 20 January 2015 0 comments

The association between exaggeration in health related science news and academic press releases

Through a Guardian article I found out about a study which could provide useful evidence when looking at the issue of news credibility. The structured abstract of the BMJ article puts it succinctly and I copy it below (the article is open access, with a creative commons license). Briefly, the researchers compared original research papers, press releases and resultant news stories and found that in fact a lot of the hype was coming from the universities' press releases, rather than (as is e.g. assumed here) being added on by journalists. They have now been funded by the ESRC to do further research.

"Objective To identify the source (press releases or news) of distortions, exaggerations, or changes to the main conclusions drawn from research that could potentially influence a reader’s health related behaviour.

"Design Retrospective quantitative content analysis.

"Setting Journal articles, press releases, and related news, with accompanying simulations.

"Sample Press releases (n=462) on biomedical and health related science issued by 20 leading UK universities in 2011, alongside their associated peer reviewed research papers and news stories (n=668).

"Main outcome measures Advice to readers to change behaviour, causal statements drawn from correlational research, and inference to humans from animal research that went beyond those in the associated peer reviewed papers.

"Results 40% (95% confidence interval 33% to 46%) of the press releases contained exaggerated advice, 33% (26% to 40%) contained exaggerated causal claims, and 36% (28% to 46%) contained exaggerated inference to humans from animal research. When press releases contained such exaggeration, 58% (95% confidence interval 48% to 68%), 81% (70% to 93%), and 86% (77% to 95%) of news stories, respectively, contained similar exaggeration, compared with exaggeration rates of 17% (10% to 24%), 18% (9% to 27%), and 10% (0% to 19%) in news when the press releases were not exaggerated. Odds ratios for each category of analysis were 6.5 (95% confidence interval 3.5 to 12), 20 (7.6 to 51), and 56 (15 to 211). At the same time, there was little evidence that exaggeration in press releases increased the uptake of news.

"Conclusions Exaggeration in news is strongly associated with exaggeration in press releases. Improving the accuracy of academic press releases could represent a key opportunity for reducing misleading health related news."

Chambers, C. et al. (2014) The association between exaggeration in health related science news and academic press releases: retrospective observational study. BMJ, 349. http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmj.g7015

Chambers, C. et al. (2014, 10 December) Science and health news hype: where does it come from? http://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/2014/dec/10/science-health-news-hype-press-releases-universities
Photo by Sheila Webber: tiny bit of snow this morning.

Posted by Unknown Thursday, 11 December 2014 0 comments

Health Information and Libraries Journal: HIV/AIDS; health info kiosks; information behaviour, literacy and needs.

One of my current PhD students has just had an article published about his PhD research. This journal is a priced publication:
Wella, K. (2014) The information experience and learning needs of couples living with HIV in Malawi. Health Information and Libraries Journal, 31 (4), 325–329 http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/enhanced/doi/10.1111/hir.12086/

Other articles in this issue include:
- Lê, M. (2014) Information needs of public health students. Health Information and Libraries Journal, 31 (4), 274–292.
- Joshi, A. and Trout, K. (2014) The role of health information kiosks in diverse settings: a systematic review. Health Information and Libraries Journal, 31 (4), 254–273.
Contents page at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/hir.2014.31.issue-4/issuetoc

In the previous issue of the journal, articles included:
- Kelham, C. (2014) Health care librarians and information literacy: an investigation. Health Information and Libraries Journal, 31 (3), 235–238. This is based on her dissertation, which she did here at the iSchool and the full text of the dissertation is at: http://dagda.shef.ac.uk/dispub/dissertations/2012-13/External/Kelham_C_Y67.pdf
- Spring, H. (2014) Health information, what happens when there isn't any? Information literacy and the challenges for rare and orphan diseases. Health Information and Libraries Journal, 31 (3), 243–246.
- Brennan, N. et al (204) Qualified doctor and medical students' use of resources for accessing information: what is used and why? Health Information and Libraries Journal, 31 (3), 204–214
The contents page of this issue is at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/hir.2014.31.issue-3/issuetoc
Photo by Sheila Webber: old town hall in Brno (view from hotel window)

Posted by Unknown Wednesday, 3 December 2014 0 comments

Older Americans unversed in the Internet 'know less about health'

A newsy article reports that: "... among elderly Americans, those with low health literacy were the least likely to use the Internet. And when they did use the Internet, it was not usually to search for health information."
Paddock, C. (2014, 14 November) Older Americans unversed in the Internet 'know less about health'. Medical News Today. http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/285421.php
This was based on an article in Journal of General Internal Medicine currently in the "online" first category (i.e. not allocated to an issue):
Levey, H. et al. (2014). Health Literacy and the Digital Divide Among Older Americans. Journal of General Internal Medicine. http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11606-014-3069-5/fulltext.html
I found this through Trove http://trove.com/ a free service for setting current awareness from internet sources.
Photo by Sheila Webber: St Georges church and trees reflected in a puddle, Sheffield, November 2014

Posted by Unknown Wednesday, 26 November 2014 0 comments

The Health Literacy Place

The Health Literacy Place is a Scottish site that includes the Health Literacy Action Plan for Scotland, other resources relating to health literacy in Scotland, and numerous links and embedded resources (e.g. videos). The site is produced by NHS Education for Scotland Knowledge Services Group. http://www.knowledge.scot.nhs.uk/healthliteracy.aspx
Photo by Sheila Webber: leaves, photoshopped, November 2014

Posted by Unknown Thursday, 20 November 2014 0 comments

Report from #ecil2014 - Developing a Strategy for Effective Health Information Literacy Instruction Using a Neurocognitive Model for Dual-Processing

Today is the final day of the European Conference on Information Literacy, held in Dubrovnik and I'll start by blogging a presentation from Ivonne Ramirez who talked on Developing a Strategy for Effective Health Information Literacy Instruction Using a Neurocognitive Model for Dual-Processing. The speaker definied health information literacy instruction as Access and retrieval of high quality health information for decision making. She identified the many groups who had a role in teaching health information literacy (see slide): an interesting list with for example parents having to help their children, and children (for example) helping relatives who had inadequate language skills. In the question sessionsomeone noted an increase in people coming along to doctors etc. with a supporting person.
The speaker proposed a neurocognitive strategy to meet the complexity of the situation. The dual processing systems are the declarative (conscious recall, facts and events) memeory system and the procedural (learning by doing, withoiut necessarily learning consciously) memory system. You can plan for (declarative) aural and visual input (which can be tested by asking for oral or text based recall) and (procedural) mimicing, following a process (which can be tested by problem solving tasks). Therefore the speaker was advocating planning for both kinds of input and output, including for information literacy assessment. She felt that using this terminology could also be useful when trying to persuade others to give time for both kinds of teaching. The speaker also felt that combining screenshare, powerpoint etc. was valuable. In terms of assessment, the speaker talked about authentic assessment (e.g. multimedia projects or research papers) or problem based learning.

Posted by Unknown Thursday, 23 October 2014 0 comments

Subscribe here