WCSU Libraries

HEALTH LITERACY AND HEALTH INFORMATION LITERACY

 Health literacy  is defined in Healthy People 2010 as: "The degree to which individuals have the capacity to obtain, process, and understand basic health information and services needed to make appropriate health decisions".  October is Health Literacy Month! 

To be health literate one must be health information literate , which requires knowing how and where to find authoritative current health information.  If you are completely new to the library and research, we strongly recommend that you complete WCSU Libraries' TIP Tutorial, an online tutorial for information literacy and library-related skills. This guide along with library instruction, will build on your coursework to ensure you are "health information literate" and prepared for your role as an educator, whether or not you focus on health education in your career.

SEARCH VOCABULARY/SUBJECT HEADINGS

When searching for books or articles, try to be specific about what you are looking for.  Here are some words/phrases you might enter on topics related to health education

KEYWORDS

health education, health promotion, drug education, drug abuse, suicide prevention, emotional health, disease prevention, childhood obesity, physical fitness

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS SUBJECT HEADINGS

Health education (elementary)--United States

Health education (middle school)--United States

School children--Health and hygiene--United States

Teenagers--Health and hygiene

Health promotion

Preventative health services--Administration

Become familiar with Boolean operators to ensure a focused, successful search!

Ex1. (drug abuse) AND (education)

Ex2: (drug abuse OR drug addiction), (obesity OR overweight), (physical fitness OR physical activity), (anorexia OR eating disorder)

Ex. 3: (suicide prevention) and (support groups)

ACCESSING BOOKS & CURRICULUM MATERIALS

For broad and comprehensive overviews of health and health education topics; ALWAYS limit searches by date to access recent publications.

• CONSULS (CSU Libraries' combined catalog)

Books at CCSU, ECSU, SCSU can be delivered to WCSU using the CONSULS "Request Book" feature (accessible from book record display screen, using your library PIN code). Note that there are direct links from government document holdings information to corresponding websites.

• Other Library Catalogs

Books from any other library can be delivered to WCSU using Interlibrary Loan.

CURRICULUM COLLECTION

Curriculum materials related to health education can be located using CONSULS or can be browsed in the Curriculum Room on the 4th floor of Haas Library.  The Curriculum Collection contains collections of health education lesson plans and other materials for teachers, and topical books on health,  medical, and psychology topics for K-12 students.

ACCESSING JOURNALS, MAGAZINES, AND NEWSPAPERS ONLINE

Information on health education can be found in many different kinds of sources. Online information, retrieved from authoritative databases and publications, is most valuable because of its currency. It is critical to access the most recent information, as knowledge, policies, and legislation in the field of health change are constantly changing.

Below are some of the databases that you will find most useful for your research. They are grouped by subject orientation.

DON'T FORGET TO USE DATE LIMITS WHEN YOU SEARCH!

Databases available through K-12 Schools

• iCONN
  • iCONN is Connecticut's Digital Library, and provides free access to a wide range of databases and resources through schools, public libraries and universities across the state. 
  • Check out iCONN's health collections for use when you graduate from WCSU.

Health Information

• Health and Wellness Resource Center
  • Online, searchable access to consumer health information.
  • Access to scholarly literature in medicine and allied health fields.

• Health Reference Center Academic (Ebscohost)
  • FULL TEXT access to periodicals, reference books, and pamphlets.
  • Useful source for definitions, clinical data, drug information, consumer health information.

• PsycArticles (Ebscohost)
  • FULL TEXT access to articles and literature related to mental health issues.

Education (Including Health Education in Schools and Colleges/Universities)

• ERIC (through Ebscohost)
  • Premier source of articles and publications on education, including school health.
  • Provides direct link to full text if available.
  • Search along with other Ebsco databases, such as Academic Search Premier, using the Ebsco Combined Databases feature, to retrieve more fulltext articles

Health Education in the News/Health Policies and Legislation

• Campus Research
  
  • Great source for regional and nationwide news coverage of health and health education issues.

• CQ Researcher
  • Offers coverage of important health issues; as well as in-depth background and analysis.

General/Multidisciplinary Databases

• Academic Search Premier (Ebscohost)
  • Contains FULL TEXT of articles in allied health and health education.
  • Covers literature in many fields; ideal for interdisciplinary topics or approaches.

• Expanded Academic ASAP
  • Contains FULL TEXT of articles in health disciplines.
  • Relevance search option allows you to simply enter keywords, phrases or questions ("natural language" searching)

INTERNET RESOURCES

Please see your syllabus for additional web resources

School Health: General Sites 

• American School Health Association
• National Commission for Health Education Credentialing 
• State of CT Department of Education Curriculum Content Areas: Health 
• National Association for the Education of Young Children
• National Center for Health Education
• Healthy People 2010 Objectives 
• NCCSHS: National Coordinating Committee on School Health and Safety
• Steps to a Healthier Us Initiative
• MedlinePlus School Health

School Health: Lesson Plans 

Use site search engine or look for "Health" category

• HealthTeacher (ToucanEd) - Health education curricular content and tools (student subscription encouraged)
• Educators Reference Desk (search the site using the keyword "health")
• FDA & You: Lesson Plans from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration
• Lesson Plans Page
• Lessonplanz.com
• Discovery School

Locate authoritative information on the Web by using the following directories and search engines.

• WCSU Libraries Guide to HPX Web Resources

• Infomine: Scholarly Internet Research Collections

• Google Scholar

• Librarians Index to the Internet

• FedWorld: Search Engine for Government Information

DOCUMENTATION

Guides to citation formats and paper presentation. Not substitutes for the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA), which can be found in Haas at the Reserve desk (call number BF76.7 .P83 2001).

• APA Writing Links (http://www.psych-central.com)

• Electronic Reference Formats (from the APA - http://www.apastyle.org/elecref.html)

REMOTE ACCESS

You can access any of the above resources from home, by pointing your browser to http://library.wcsu.edu/. However, to access the journal databases, you will need to be an authenticated WCSU user with:

• Internet Service Provider
• Browser (MS Internet Explorer, Netscape, Mozilla Firefox)
• Library PIN (requires that you know your student ID and can choose a password)

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Jenny Innes
Public Services Librarian
innesg@wcsu.edu
203-837-9141
10/08