EBSCO Discovery Research Articles

50 Years of the Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts 1967-2017 and 48 Years of Publishing the Journal Prilozi (Contributions) of MASA.

Papers on medical subjects have been published since the first issue of the journal Prilozi in 1969, totalling a number of of 957 (nine hundred and fifty seven) papers have been published in Prilozi. Two hundred and twenty nine cover subjects on natural sciences and mathematics, and 728 (seven hundred and twenty eight) subjects on medical sciences. So far, 2017 No. XXXVIII-2, 622 (six hundred and twenty two) papers published in Prilozi are in Pubmed. Prilozi is published three times a year and it is covered by the following services: Baidu Scholar, Case, Celdes, CNKI Scholar (China National Knowledge Infrastructure), CNPIEC, DOAJ (Directory of Open Access Journals), EBSCO (relevant databases), EBSCO Discovery Service, Elsevier - SCOPUS, Google Scholar, J-Gate, JournalTOCs, KESLI-NDSL (Korean National Discovery for Science Leaders), Naviga (Softweco), Primo Central (ExLibris), Publons, PubMed, ReadCube, ResearchGate, SCImago (SJR), Summon (Serials Solutions/ProQuest), TDNet, Ulrich's Periodicals Directory/ulrichsweb WanFang Data, WorldCat (OCLC).

Effectiveness of self-management programmes in diabetes management: A systematic review.

Diabetes is a major noncommunicable disease, which is increasing, and approximately 415million people are affected around the globe. Since diabetes is a lifelong disease, patients require better understanding and knowledge of the condition to become self-reliant in making diabetes-related decisions. This systematic review was performed to assess the effectiveness of diabetes self-management programs in people with type 2 diabetes. A comprehensive literature search was undertaken to identify all published English language articles through EBSCO discovery services in the following electronic database: Science Direct, CINAHL Plus with Full Text, MEDLINE, and Access Medicine. Studies were published from January 2000 to October 2015. The initial search retrieved 37566 studies and based on the inclusion criteria, 14 studies were selected for review. Of 14 studies, most findings favoured diabetes self-management. But the overall effectiveness of individual interventions was not conclusive. A wide variety of interventions was used including diabetes education as a major component in self-management programs. Interventions used varied strategies in differing composition, and further work is needed to find out the effectiveness of individual interventions.

Culturally Relevant Palliative and End-of-Life Care for U.S. Indigenous Populations: An Integrative Review.

American Indians/Alaska Natives (AIs/ANs) have higher rates of chronic illness and lack access to palliative/end-of-life (EOL) care. This integrative review ascertained the state of the science on culturally acceptable palliative/EOL care options for Indigenous persons in the United States. Databases searched: CINAHL, PubMed/MEDLINE, SocINDEX, PsycINFO, PsycARTICLES, ERIC, Health Source: Nursing/Academic Edition, and EBSCO Discovery Service 1880s-Present. Key terms used: palliative care, EOL care, and AI/AN. peer-reviewed articles published in English. Findings/Results: Twenty-nine articles were identified, 17 remained that described culturally specific palliative/EOL care for AIs/ANs. Synthesis revealed four themes: Communication, Cultural Awareness/Sensitivity, Community Guidance for Palliative/EOL Care Programs, Barriers and two subthemes: Trust/Respect and Mistrust. Limitations are lack of research funding, geographic isolation, and stringent government requirements. Palliative/EOL care must draw on a different set of skills that honor care beyond cure provided in a culturally sensitive manner.

Web-Scale Discovery Services Retrieve Relevant Results in Health Sciences Topics Including MEDLINE Content

A Review of:
 Hanneke, R., & O’Brien, K. K. (2016). Comparison of three web-scale discovery services for health sciences research. Journal of the Medical Library Association, 104(2), 109-117. http://dx.doi.org/10.3163/1536-5050.104.2.004
 
 Abstract
 
 Objective – To compare the results of health sciences search queries in three web-scale discovery (WSD) services for relevance, duplicate detection, and retrieval of MEDLINE content.
 
 Design – Comparative evaluation and bibliometric study.
 
 Setting – Six university libraries in the United States of America.
 
 Subjects – Three commercial WSD services: Primo, Summon, and EBSCO Discovery Service (EDS).
 
 Methods – The authors collected data at six universities, including their own. They tested each of the three WSDs at two data collection sites. However, since one of the sites was using a legacy version of Summon that was due to be upgraded, data collected for Summon at this site were considered obsolete and excluded from the analysis. 
 
 The authors generated three questions for each of six major health disciplines, then designed simple keyword searches to mimic typical student search behaviours. They captured the first 20 results from each query run at each test site, to represent the first “page” of results, giving a total of 2,086 total search results. These were independently assessed for relevance to the topic. Authors resolved disagreements by discussion, and calculated a kappa inter-observer score. They retained duplicate records within the results so that the duplicate detection by the WSDs could be compared.
 
 They assessed MEDLINE coverage by the WSDs in several ways. Using precise strategies to generate a relevant set of articles, they conducted one search from each of the six disciplines in PubMed so that they could compare retrieval of MEDLINE content. These results were cross-checked against the first 20 results from the corresponding query in the WSDs. To aid investigation of overall coverage of MEDLINE, they recorded the first 50 results from each of the 6 PubMed searches in a spreadsheet. During data collection at the WSD sites, they searched for these references to discover if the WSD tool at each site indexed these known items.
 
 Authors adopted measures to control for any customisation of the product setup at each data collection site. In particular, they excluded local holdings from the results by limiting the searches to scholarly, peer-reviewed articles.
 
 Main results – Authors reported results for 5 of the 6 sites. All of the WSD tools retrieved between 50-60% relevant results. EDS retrieved the highest number of relevant records (195/360 and 216/360), while Primo retrieved the lowest (167/328 and 169/325). There was good observer agreement (k=0.725) for the relevance assessment. The duplicate detection rate was similar in EDS and Summon (between 96-97% unique articles), while the Primo searches returned 82.9-84.9% unique articles.
 
 All three tools retrieved relevant results that were not indexed in MEDLINE, and retrieved relevant material indexed in MEDLINE that was not retrieved in the PubMed searches. EDS and Summon retrieved more non-MEDLINE material than Primo. EDS performed best in the known-item searches, with 300/300 and 299/300 items retrieved, while Primo performed worst with 230/300 and 267/300 items retrieved.
 
 The Summon platform features an “automated query expansion” search function, where user-entered keywords are matched to related search terms and these are automatically searched along with the original keyword. The authors observed that this function resulted in a wholly relevant first page of results for one of the search questions tested in Summon.
 
 Conclusion – While EDS performed slightly better overall, the difference was not great enough in this small sample of test sites to recommend EDS over the other tools being tested. The automated query expansion found in Summon is a useful function that is worthy of further investigation by the WSD vendors. The ability of the WSDs to retrieve MEDLINE content through simple keyword searches demonstrates the potential value of using a WSD tool in health sciences research, particularly for inexpert searchers.

Sleep disorders as a common social problem - selected determinants and health consequences

Abstract Aim. The aim of the study was to analyze determinants of the sleep disorders in adults and their health consequences based on the literature review. Material and methods. The method of systematic analysis of literature was applied for the study. The literature review by keywords was based on the data from the Google Scholar web search databases, EBSCO Discovery Service (EDS) search engines, Arianta scientific and industry journals, and information from the years 2010-2017 available on the website. Results. Poor quality of sleep and too few sleep hours can be both a consequence and a cause of overweight and obesity. Such phenomena cause adverse changes in the endocrine system - in the form of hormonal imbalance affecting appetite, blood glucose level and the development of insulin resistance, what in turn, leads to disease development. It is, therefore, necessary to educate patients about proper sleep hygiene, reducing excessive body weight and developing healthy eating habits. Conclusions. There is a relationship between sleep disorders together with eating disorders and somatic diseases. Sleep disorders can predispose to obesity, adversely affect the carbohydrate balance, causing increased insulin resistance and increased chance of developing type 2 diabetes, as well as numerous cardiovascular diseases.

A critical review of published research literature reviews on nursing and healthcare ageism.

To establish how common and impactful nursing and healthcare ageism is and whether proven interventions or prevention methods exist. Ageism has been a concern since 1969 when it was first introduced as a concept for social reform. As ageism has been linked to lower quality health services and reduced health care access, it is imperative that healthcare and nursing ageism is prevented or identified and reduced or eliminated. A qualitative narrative review of published research literature reviews using a scoping design to map all published reviews was undertaken. The EBSCO Discovery Service (providing access to articles in 271 databases, including MEDLINE and CINAHL) and Directory of Open Access Journals (providing access to over 9,000 open access journals) were used to find review articles. Using predetermined inclusion and exclusion criteria, and limited by English language and peer-review publications, 12 eligible reviews were identified and information from them was systematically identified, assessed and synthesised. The 12 reviews did not provide clear and convincing information to determine how common and impactful nursing or healthcare ageism is, nor what can best be done to prevent or address it. Although each review had value since research literature was collected and discussed on nursing or healthcare ageism, the array of literature search and analysis methods, and diversity in conclusions reached about the evidence is highly problematic. Research literature reviews offering a more balanced perspective and demonstrating greater care in finding and using quality evidence are needed. At this point in time, there is no clear understanding of how widespread and impactful nursing or healthcare ageism is, and what can best be done to prevent or address it. Nurses need to be aware that ageism may be common and impactful, and guard against it.

Managing Content in EBSCO Discovery Service: Action Guide for Surviving and Thriving

ABSTRACTSince Idaho State University Libraries’ implementation and promotion of EBSCO Discovery Service (EDS) in 2014, its electronic resources team continues to troubleshoot seamless content discovery for library patrons. But nothing prepared us for the kind of content issues the Library would have to deal with on a day-to-day basis. This report discusses ways of managing content in EDS to improve discovery of resources, including linking issues to ClinicalKey records and dealing with “bound with” local catalog records. It also addresses obstacles and solutions, as well as the authors’ experience working with EBSCO Support.

Comparison of three web-scale discovery services for health sciences research*

Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate the relative effectiveness of three web-scale discovery (WSD) tools in answering health sciences search queries.Methods: Simple keyword searches, based on topics from six health sciences disciplines, were run at multiple real-world implementations of EBSCO Discovery Service (EDS), Ex Libris’s Primo, and ProQuest’s Summon. Each WSD tool was evaluated in its ability to retrieve relevant results and in its coverage of MEDLINE content.Results: All WSD tools returned between 50%–60% relevant results. Primo returned a higher number of duplicate results than the other 2WSD products. Summon results were more relevant when search terms were automatically mapped to controlled vocabulary. EDS indexed the largest number of MEDLINE citations, followed closely by Summon. Additionally, keyword searches in all 3 WSD tools retrieved relevant material that was not found with precision (Medical Subject Headings) searches in MEDLINE.Conclusions: None of the 3 WSD products studied was overwhelmingly more effective in returning relevant results. While difficult to place the figure of 50%–60% relevance in context, it implies a strong likelihood that the average user would be able to find satisfactory sources on the first page of search results using a rudimentary keyword search. The discovery of additional relevant material beyond that retrieved from MEDLINE indicates WSD tools’ value as a supplement to traditional resources for health sciences researchers.

Taking Action on Usability Testing Findings: Simmons College Library Case Study

ABSTRACTSimmons College Library conducted in-person and remote usability testing to observe how students retrieve full text when using Library Search, its discovery service system powered by EBSCO Discovery Service (EDS). Testing was conducted as a collaborative study with a consultant associated with EBSCO Information Services User Research Group. This testing found that students expect direct access to full text, have an unfavorable impression of Interlibrary Loan (ILL), and are unsure, based on terminology, which links provide direct access to full text. Steps taken by the library in response to the findings include local customization of EDS, improvements to ILL messaging, updates to user education regarding full text formats and terminology, and requests to EBSCO to update terminology to support users’ direct access to full text. Study findings also validated decisions the library made during the initial set up of its discovery service system.

Integration of EBSCO Discovery Service widget into the learning spaces of LMS

PurposeRecent advancement in technological development has encouraged distance learning institutions to be more productive and creative in effectively utilizing the Learning Management System (LMS). Among the many measures employed is the integration of federated search engine into the LMS which allows for a more productive and wider scope of information retrieval through the provisions of library resources and services. The purpose of this paper is to report one such case study in Wawasan Open University exploring the integration of federated search engine (EBSCO Discovery Service (EDS) widget) into the learning spaces of LMS. Widgets resemble apps that enable the integration of EDS functionality in providing access for students to retrieve library learning resources from the convenience of the LMS, excluding the need to log onto the library.Design/methodology/approachThis paper presents a discussion that highlights the development and conjectural implementation of a framework on the integration of the EDS widget into the University’s LMS. Data collection includes meta-analysis data from the micro- and macro-level infrastructure that make up the framework, namely, end-user layer, system layer and data management layer.FindingsFindings from this study addressed significant importance to the library in promoting effective search and utilization of information needs. The findings will also make clear recommendations in developing effective collaborations between the library and faculties. Although the implementation of this framework is still in a developmental stage, this study still provides pertinent information in validating the integration of EDS into the University’s LMS.Research limitations/implicationsWhile serious limitations are not anticipated, possible concerns do exist with programming algorithms in the integration of EDS into the LMS. These challenges will be reported in the paper as reference for future replications of studyPractical implicationsOne key implication is the increase in the usage of the library resources and the potential to reach a larger audience of remote library users.Originality/valueThe primary advantage is to minimize the need for multiple gateway login while ensuring the library to monitor relevant library databases activities throughout the system check of the LMS.

Mapping the stacks: Sustainability and user experience of animated maps in library discovery interfaces

ABSTRACTAnimated maps of the library stacks were integrated into the catalog interface at Pratt Institute and into the EBSCO Discovery Service interface at Illinois State University. The mapping feature was developed for optimal automation of the update process to enable a range of library personnel to update maps and call-number ranges. The development and implementation process for both institutions is discussed. Usability testing was conducted at Illinois State University to assess how well the feature helps students to locate items throughout the library. Researchers found that students are able to use the feature to successfully navigate through the stacks, but initially they have trouble locating the feature in the interface.

Impact of web-scale discovery on reference inquiry

Purpose The purpose of this study is to examine shifts in the volume and complexity of reference questions received at a small liberal arts college following the implementation of a Web-scale discovery service. Design/methodology/approach Researchers used the Warner model of reference classification to review and classify reference questions from the academic year prior to the implementation of EBSCO Discovery Service (EDS) and the academic year following EDS implementation to evaluate the change in volume of questions and complexity. Findings Research findings are significant as they document a 34 per cent decline in overall volume of reference activity following the integration of a Web-scale discovery service into the research process. Notably, the question category rated as the highest level of reference complexity (level IV) registered an 18.5 per cent increase in volume, post-EDS implementation. Question levels I-III all saw declines in volume ranging from 45 to 14 per cent. Research limitations/implications Limitations of the study relate to multiple librarians having recorded questions as they were received by reference services and, as a result, some variation in transaction description should be expected. The concurrent deployment of a Web-scale discovery service and an integrated link resolver made delineation of the respective impact of each tool difficult. Practical implications Libraries contemplating the integration of a Web-scale discovery service into the research process will be able to use the research analysis to contemplate service redesign in advance of discovery implementation. The research results support additional training of reference personnel to service higher levels of in-depth inquiries. A redesign of reference services incorporating a tiered reference model using proactive chat with referrals to library faculty for in-depth research consultations is recommended. Originality/value After a literature review of relevant research, the researchers discovered few similar studies. As a result, this analysis will be of significant value to the library profession.

An Analysis of Web-scale Discovery Services From the Perspective of User's Relevance Judgment

Although web-scale discovery services have been implemented increasingly worldwide, there is a need for the exploration of search effectiveness from users' perspectives. In this sense, this study examined web-scale discovery services in the view of users' relevance judgment comparing to individual databases in the fields of Education and Library and Information Science. Using four search topics for the EBSCO Discovery Service (EDS), ERIC, ERC, LISA, and LISTA, their search effectiveness were measured in terms of modified precision, recall, and reciprocal rank based on the relevance judgments of four participants. Comparison of the measurements showed that the web-scale discovery service was less effective than individual databases. In particular, EDS's effectiveness was lower than that of ERIC and ERC in terms of modified precision and recall. The modified reciprocal rank of EDS was lower than those of most individual databases in the fields of Education and LIS. Moreover, the relationship between the rankings from EDS and those from four participants was weak, as indicated by Spearman rank-order correlation coefficients (0.141 in Education and 0.170 in LIS). In fact, the effectiveness in the fields of LIS and Education of EDS was lower than those individual databases to a degree dependent on the field.

A Small Academic Library and the Power of EBSCO Discovery Service

ABSTRACTDiscovery systems are important tools that libraries use to connect patrons to the multitude of open access resources and subscription databases. Whitaker Library is a small academic library with a small staff that serves a large population of first-generation college students. Time is a valuable commodity. This article expands on a presentation made at the 2016 North Carolina Serials Conference about how Whitaker Library's collaboration with EBSCO Support helped to create a better user experience for our students and allowed library staff more time to focus on other student needs.

Editorial: The First Three Years (2013-2015) of Life: The Excitement of Biology

Main Accomplishments 1. Expanded Indexing, Referencing, and Availability. Life: The Excitement of Biology continues to be indexed and its published articles detected by Biosis, Biological Abstracts, CAB Abstracts, Google Scholar, and Research Gate. In 2015, LEB became available through the EBSCO Discovery Service (EDS) although not in full text. Also, Life: The Excitement of Biology is scheduled for inclusion in EBSCO’s, Academic Search Ultimate (https://www.ebscohost.com/academic/academic-searchultimate), which is slated for release in September 2016. LEB continues participating fully in CitedBy (CrossRef, http://www.crossref.org/) and has a very good record of “resolutions”, that is, correctly directing readers who click on the links to the correct publication. Wholehearted thanks to the staff members of CrossRef, for their help, particularly when I have made mistakes. Basch Subscriptions, a Prenax company (http://basch.com/bsi/, http://www.prenax.com/), as well as WT Cox Information Services (http://www.wtcox.com/), two subscription management companies headquartered in the USA, now include Life: The Excitement of Biology in their online platform databases. 2. Increased Internationalization. More scholars have joined the Board of Editors of Life: The Excitement of Biology during 2015. Currently, the board has nearly 100 members representing over 40 countries worldwide. 3. “Responsive” Presence via Social Media. Life: The Excitement of Biology continues having a strong digital presence through our digital carrier, WordPress. Its website, blaypublishers.com, is compatible with different types of mobile devices and screen sizes. The term used for this among website developers is “responsive”, meaning that a web site follows responsive design principles. Also, LEB maintains a regular presence,

Managing Discovery and Linking Services

There is a growing trend toward a consolidation of services for electronic resources management, A–Z journal listings, full text link resolving, and discovery services under a single service provider. In many cases, the adoption of a discovery service from a provider that is not the same as the libraries’ existing link resolver service means managing multiple knowledgebases. In this session, three librarians gave an overview of their experiences and strategies for maintaining separate link resolving and discovery services in lieu of adopting a full suite of services from a single service provider. Each speaker presented a case study on the advantages and challenges of managing their chosen discovery service: EBSCO Discovery Service, Ex Libris’ Primo and ProQuest’s Summon, in conjunction with the CUFTS/GODOT open source knowledgebase and link resolver service.

Parent education programmes for special health care needs children: a systematic review

The aim of this review was to examine parent education programmes for families with children with special health care needs, to better design interventions focusing on the psychosocial aspects of living with a child's chronic condition. Studies of familial coping with children with special health care needs indicate high levels of parenting stress, with families with children with special health care needs at risk of major psychological and social disturbances and financial strain. Despite increased knowledge of the factors affecting children with special health care needs themselves, evidence for the effectiveness of preventative and treatment interventions in the form of parent education programmes remains limited. Systematic review using PRISMA guidelines. Multi database Boolean searches in EBSCO Discovery Services using the search terms 'complex/special health care needs children', 'child/pediatric/congenital heart disease', 'chronic illness (including diabetes, cancer and cystic fibrosis)', 'family coping', 'siblings' AND 'parenting/family support programs' were conducted. Analysis of 13 included studies showed evidence for the effectiveness of both mixed-health condition and condition-specific parenting programmes delivered in a variety of modes. Three common core intervention approaches were: use of narrative therapy enabling families to tell their own stories, thus facilitating emotional processing and (co-) construction of meaning; a focus on strengthening protective factors such as enhancing parents' skills in communication, and behavioural management and provision of psycho-education to deepen parents' understanding of their child's condition and associated developmental challenges. Irrespective of the type of outcome measures used in the studies, the review showed that there were positive gains and improvements across a range of areas of family functioning such as mental health, parenting, communication and problem-solving skills postprogramme. Identification of what programme characteristics enhance functioning for families with children with special health care needs should encourage the design of effective interventions.

Comparison of three web-scale discovery services for health sciences research.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relative effectiveness of three web-scale discovery (WSD) tools in answering health sciences search queries. Simple keyword searches, based on topics from six health sciences disciplines, were run at multiple real-world implementations of EBSCO Discovery Service (EDS), Ex Libris's Primo, and ProQuest's Summon. Each WSD tool was evaluated in its ability to retrieve relevant results and in its coverage of MEDLINE content. All WSD tools returned between 50%-60% relevant results. Primo returned a higher number of duplicate results than the other 2 WSD products. Summon results were more relevant when search terms were automatically mapped to controlled vocabulary. EDS indexed the largest number of MEDLINE citations, followed closely by Summon. Additionally, keyword searches in all 3 WSD tools retrieved relevant material that was not found with precision (Medical Subject Headings) searches in MEDLINE. None of the 3 WSD products studied was overwhelmingly more effective in returning relevant results. While difficult to place the figure of 50%-60% relevance in context, it implies a strong likelihood that the average user would be able to find satisfactory sources on the first page of search results using a rudimentary keyword search. The discovery of additional relevant material beyond that retrieved from MEDLINE indicates WSD tools' value as a supplement to traditional resources for health sciences researchers.

Student Use of Keywords and Limiters in Web-scale Discovery Searching

Using transaction log analysis of student search histories in EBSCO Discovery Service, which we branded RVOneSearch, we seek to answer: 1. Do students use the limiters provided in RVOneSearch? 2. How effectively do students use keywords in RVOneSearch after receiving instruction on keywording? In Spring 2012, RVOneSearch became an integral part of our 80-minute librarian-led sessions that are required of all English Composition I courses. We began focusing our instruction on selecting appropriate keywords when we noticed that regardless of interface, students struggled most with identifying the right search terms. With RVOneSearch we stopped teaching multiple interfaces and instead began teaching one reference database for background and context, and RVOneSearch for scholarly sources. We spend less time on the nuances of interfaces and more time on evaluating results. We also teach students to use the facets and limiters available in RVOneSearch. In this study we wanted to determine if students used the available facets and limiters and whether they chose appropriate keywords after instruction on how to do so. Our results inform how and what we teach students and are applicable to others teaching with web-scale discovery.

Postural Control and Gait Performance in the Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy: A Systematic Review.

Purpose. The aim of this paper is to review the published studies on the characteristics of impairments in the postural control and gait performance in diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN). Methods. A review was performed by obtaining publication of all papers reporting on the postural control and gait performance in DPN from Google Scholar, Ovid, SAGE, Springerlink, Science Direct (SD), EBSCO Discovery Service, and Web of Science databases. The keywords used for searching were “postural control,” “balance,” “gait performance,” “diabetes mellitus,” and “diabetic peripheral neuropathy.” Results. Total of 4,337 studies were hit in the search. 1,524 studies were screened on their titles and citations. Then, 79 studies were screened on their abstract. Only 38 studies were eligible to be selected: 17 studies on postural control and 21 studies on the gait performance. Most previous researches were found to have strong evidence of postural control impairments and noticeable gait deficits in DPN. Deterioration of somatosensory, visual, and vestibular systems with the pathologic condition of diabetes on cognitive impairment causes further instability of postural and gait performance in DPN. Conclusions. Postural instability and gait imbalance in DPN may contribute to high risk of fall incidence, especially in the geriatric population. Thus, further works are crucial to highlight this fact in the hospital based and community adults.