Research Guides: Health Studies: Public/Community Health

Databases

PubMed This link opens in a new window
Search for biomedical articles from several National Library of Medicine resources, including MEDLINE, life science journals and ebooks. This special version of PubMed includes Dickinson library's "Get It" links to additional full text. Coverage: late 1700s to present. Some full text.
JSTOR Public Health This link opens in a new window
Access journals, books and research reports that explore the environmental, biological, social and cultural factors that can impact public health and health equity in society. Coverage: varies. Full text.
SocIndex This link opens in a new window
Access sociology research encompassing all sub-disciplines and closely related areas of study, including anthropology, criminology & criminal justice, demography, ethnic & racial studies, gender studies, marriage & family, political sociology, religion, rural & urban sociology, social development, social psychology, social structure, social work, sociological history, sociological research, sociological theory, substance abuse & other addictions, violence and many others. Coverage: 1900s to present. Full text.
ERIC (Education Resource Information Center) This link opens in a new window
Access articles, reports, government documents and other unpublished sources not indexed elsewhere, on topics in education and many related fields (child development, psychology, libraries, etc). See also Education Source. Coverage: late 19th century to present. Some full text.

Healthy People

"Provides science-based, 10-year national objectives for improving the health of all Americans. For 3 decades, Healthy People has established benchmarks and monitored progress over time in order to: encourage collaborations across sectors; guide individuals toward making informed health decisions; measure the impact of prevention activities."

Healthy People 2030 & Leading Health Indicators
Sets data-driven national objectives to improve health and well-being over the next decade. Includes 355 core — or measurable — objectives as well as developmental and research objectives. Leading Health Indicators (LHIs) are a subset of high-priority objectives.
Healthy People 2020
"Healthy People provides science-based, 10-year national objectives for improving the health of all Americans."
Healthy People 2020 Structured Evidence Queries
"This resource provides pre-formulated PubMed search strategies to find published literature to support achieving Healthy People 2020 objectives."
Healthy People 2010 (with Final Review report)
"The Healthy People 2010 Final Review [issued Oct. 2011] presents a quantitative end-of-decade assessment of progress in achieving the Healthy People 2010 objectives and goals over the course of the decade."

Local Organizations

Service Learning

County Health Rankings and Roadmaps

County Health Rankings & Roadmaps
Provides rankings and datasets for all 3,143 counties in the United States. Each profile includes key indicators of health outcomes, which describe the population health status of a county and factors that have the potential to influence health outcomes, such as health care access and quality, health behaviors, social factors and the physical environment.

Systematic Reviews, Evaluation Studies, Best Practices

AHRQ Innovations Exchange
CDC Guide to Community Preventive Services
A U.S. Centers for Disease Control site dedicated to answering questions such as: "Which program and policy interventions have been proven effective? Are there effective interventions that are right for my community? What might effective interventions cost; what is the likely return on investment?"
Cochrane Summaries
"systematic assessments of evidence of the effects of healthcare interventions, intended to help people to make informed decisions about health care, their own or someone else's."
Community Commons
"an interactive mapping, networking, and learning utility for the broad-based healthy, sustainable, and livable communities’ movement" Free registration required for some features.
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See Recorded Webinar: A Nonprofit Resource for Making Your Case and the Support section for training videos.
Community Toolbox
"free information on essential skills for building healthy communities. It offers more than 7,000 pages of practical guidance in creating change and improvement."
Community Toolbox: Databases of Best Practices
Links to Databases of Best Practices from the Community Toolbox a service of the Work Group for Community Health and Development at the University of Kansas.
Crime Solutions
"The Office of Justice Programs’ CrimeSolutions.gov uses rigorous research to determine what works in criminal justice, juvenile justice, and crime victim services."
Health Evidence (TM)
Access to over 5,000 quality-rated systematic reviews evaluating the effectiveness of public health interventions.
MMWR Recommendations & Reports
Formal recommendations from the CDC. Search for recommendations on specific topics on the CDC website by adding the word "recommendations" to your keyword search.
Model Practices Database
From the National Association of County & City Health Officials (NACCHO), "an online, searchable collection of innovative best practices across public health areas."

PubMed This link opens in a new window
Search for biomedical articles from several National Library of Medicine resources, including MEDLINE, life science journals and ebooks. This special version of PubMed includes Dickinson library's "Get It" links to additional full text. Coverage: late 1700s to present. Some full text.

Social Programs That Work
From the Coalition for Evidence-Based Policy, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization funded by the MacArthur Foundation, whose mission is to increase government effectiveness through rigorous evidence about “what works.”
What Works for Health
Provides communities with information to help select and implement evidence-informed policies, programs, and system changes that will improve the variety of factors we know affect health. The level of evidence supporting each item is clearly indicated.

Waidner-Spahr Library