Conducting comprehensive but efficient literature searches for complex evidence syntheses involves selecting databases that will retrieve the greatest number of relevant results on the question. Lack of a comprehensive single database on allied health educational topics challenges those seeking such literature. In this study, six participants contributed research questions on instructional methods and materials for allied health patients, caregivers, and future health professionals. Two health sciences librarians created search strategies for these questions and searched eleven databases. Both the librarians and the six participants evaluated the search results using a rubric based on PICO to assess extent of alignment between the librarians' and requestors' relevance judgments. Intervention, Outcome, and Assessment Method constituted the most frequent bases for assessments of relevance by both librarians and participants. The librarians were more restrictive in all of their assessments except in a preliminary search yielding twelve citations without abstracts. The study's results could be used to identify effective techniques for reference interviewing, selecting databases, and weeding search results.

Cervical cancer screening is credited with dramatically reducing cervical cancer mortality in the United States. There is a lack of consensus on whether women with behavioral health conditions (mental health or substance use) receive cervical cancer screening at rates similar to women without the conditions. Using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) guidelines, we searched for articles and abstracts of conference proceedings in PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science and the EBSCO databases: CINAHL, PsycINFO, Psychosocial and Behavioral Science Collection, Academic Search Premier Databases, and the ProQuest database Applied Social Sciences Index and Abstracts from January 1, 2000 to July 31, 2020. Eligibility criteria included studies conducted in the United States, published in English, and comparing cervical cancer screening rates of women with and without behavioral health conditions. Of 1,242 unique articles screened, 52 were included in the full text review. And after title/abstract/and full-text review, 14 articles met the eligibility criteria. Six studies examined both mental health and substance use conditions, two studies only examined substance use disorders, and six studies examined only mental health conditions. Substance use disorders were associated with a decreased likelihood of receiving screening. This study yeilded inconclusive findings on the relationship between mental health conditions and cervical cancer screening. More research is needed to better understand the relationship between behavioral health conditions and cervical cancer screening.

Increased requests for assistance with literature searches on educational topics within the health professions motivated two health science librarians to analyze search function and results in eleven bibliographic databases on questions representing three allied health instructional target populations (patient, caregiver, and future health professionals). Results overlap and relevance were estimated and useful functions and subject headings were examined, as evidence for future search and database recommendations. This research confirmed the authors' hypothesis that PubMed and CINAHL overlapped significantly yet yielded sufficient unique citations to recommend searching both, plus at least one education-specific database. For the six questions researched, psychology and sports medicine databases were less productive.

There is increasing interest today in how the arts contribute to individual and community wellbeing. This scoping review identified and examined ways in which the arts have been used to address wellbeing in communities in the United States. The review examined 44 publications, with combined study populations representing a total of 5,080 research participants, including marginalized populations. It identified the types of artistic practices and interventions being conducted, research methods, and outcomes measured. It highlights positive associations found across a broad spectrum of psychological, physical, and social outcomes, including improvements in self-esteem and identity formation, cognition, physical balance, and physical conditioning. It also reports negative outcomes of arts interventions that may be underreported. The study identifies the need for core outcomes sets and reporting guidelines for advancing evidence synthesis in this area.

Alcohol-using Black MSM (Men who have sex with men) are disproportionately impacted by HIV in the U.S.-particularly in the southern U.S.-despite the availability of antiretroviral therapy (ART). The purpose of this study was to summarize the current evidence on alcohol use and ART adherence among Black MSM in the U.S. and in the South and to identify future research needs. A systematic review was conducted using eight databases to identify relevant peer-reviewed articles published between January 2010 and April 2021. The authors also snowballed remaining studies and hand-searched for additional studies. Including both quantitative and qualitative studies, five published studies examined alcohol and ART adherence among Black MSM in the U.S. The search identified 240 articles, the study team reviewed 114 in full-text and determined that only five met the inclusion criteria. Three of the five included studies identified alcohol use as a barrier to ART adherence. In conclusions, the general lack of literature on HIV disparities among alcohol-using Black MSM in the U.S. (specifically in the South) indicates a critical need for research on this population's unique risks and needs to inform the development of tailored interventions.

The literature on repetition priming in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is inconsistent, with some findings supporting spared priming while others do not. Several factors may explain these inconsistencies, including AD severity (e.g., dementia vs. Mild Cognitive Impairment; MCI) and priming paradigm-related characteristics. This systematic review and meta-analysis provides a quantitative summary of repetition priming in AD. We examined the between-group standard mean difference comparing repetition priming in AD dementia or amnestic MCI (aMCI; presumably due to AD) to controls. Thirty-two studies were selected, including 590 individuals with AD dementia, 267 individuals with amnestic MCI, and 703 controls. Our results indicated that both individuals with aMCI and AD dementia perform worse on repetition priming tasks than cognitively older adults. Paradigm-related moderators suggested that the effect size between studies comparing the combined aMCI or AD dementia group to cognitively healthy older adults was the highest for paradigms that required participants to produce, rather than identify, primes during the test phase. Our results further suggested that priming in AD is impaired for both conceptual and perceptual priming tasks. Lastly, while our results suggested that priming in AD is impaired for priming tasks that require deep processing, we were unable to draw firm conclusions about whether priming is less impaired in aMCI or AD dementia for paradigms that require shallow processing.

Objectives Several delivery models of palliative care are currently available: hospital-based, outpatient-based, home-based, nursing home-based, and hospice-based. Weighing the differences in costs of these delivery models helps to advise on the future direction of expanding palliative care services. The objective of this review is to identify and summarize the best available evidence in the US on cost associated with palliative care for patients diagnosed with cancer. Methods The systematic review was carried out of studies conducted in the US between 2008 and 2018, searching PubMed, Medline, the Cochrane library, CINAHL, EconLit, the Social Science Citation Index, Embase, and Science Citation Index, using the following terms: palliative, cancer, carcinoma, cost, and reimbursement. Results The initial search identified 748 articles, of which 16 met the inclusion criteria. Eight studies (50%) were inpatient-based, four (25%) were combined outpatient/inpatient, two (12.5%) reported only on home-based palliative services, and two (12.5%) were in multiple settings. Most included studies showed that palliative care reduced the cost of health care by $1285-$20,719 for inpatient palliative care, $1000-$5198 for outpatient and inpatient combined, $4258 for home-based, and $117-$400 per day for home/hospice, combined outpatient/inpatient palliative care. Conclusion Receiving palliative care after a cancer diagnosis was associated with lower costs for cancer patients, and remarkable differences exist in cost saving across different palliative care models.

Osteoarthritis (OA), a leading cause of disability and pain, affects 32.5 million Americans, producing tremendous economic burden. Although some findings suggest that racial/ethnic minorities experience increased OA pain severity, other studies have shown conflicting results. This meta-analysis examined differences in clinical pain severity between African Americans (AAs) and non-Hispanic whites with OA. Articles were initially identified between October 1 and 5, 2016, and updated May 30, 2018, using PubMed, Web of Science, PsycINFO, and the Cochrane Library Database. Eligibility included English-language peer-reviewed articles comparing clinical pain severity in adult black/AA and non-Hispanic white/Caucasian patients with OA. Nonduplicate article abstracts (N = 1,194) were screened by 4 reviewers, 224 articles underwent full-text review, and 61 articles reported effect sizes of pain severity stratified by race. Forest plots of the standard mean difference showed higher pain severity in AAs for studies using the Western Ontario and McMasters Universities Osteoarthritis Index (0.57; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.54–0.61) and non-Western Ontario and McMasters Universities Osteoarthritis Index studies (0.35, 95% CI, 0.23–0.47). AAs also showed higher self-reported disability (0.38, 95% CI, 0.22–0.54) and poorer performance testing (-0.58, 95% CI, -0.72 to -0.44). Clinical pain severity and disability in OA is higher among AAs and future studies should explore the reasons for these differences to improve pain management.

Interprofessional education and service learning offer inviting learning contexts for students from diverse professions to engage in learning about and improving communities. Given the growth of Interprofessional education (IPE) and its link to service learning, there is a need to establish where and how service-learning based IPE is effective. Using PRISMA guidelines, we systematically searched, identified, screened and assessed the eligibility of peer-reviewed publications from multiple bibliographic databases covering medical, education (general and medical), psychology, and social-behavioral science literature. This systematic review elicited 49 articles published since 1996, key characteristics of which are described in this paper. The findings provide evidence that a majority of Interprofessional service-learning experiences have been elective in nature, provide access to diverse populations and constitute unique learning experiences. Publications most frequently described medicine, nursing, and pharmacy participants. Substantive barriers to the development and implementation of service learning experiences include institutional support, extramural funding, and diverse programmatic requirements. Importantly, we concluded that there was not sufficient evidence to render a conclusion about the efficacy of service learning within an interprofessional context. The analysis noted multiple limitations with the existing body of research: namely, limited application of educational theory, a lack of rigor in evaluative methodology and little alignment with established interprofessional competencies.

University common reading programs provide a shared experience as students transition into college life and develop critical thinking skills. Typically in such programs, all students in an incoming class read and discuss the same book. Conversely, the University of Florida Honors Program's (un)common reads facilitates the same skills development through multiple small sections, each focusing on a different book and each with flexible and innovative assignments and activities. Health Science Center librarians have taught in these (un)common reads since the spring semester 2010-2011. This article describes librarian involvement in this program as well as the ensuing benefits for students, librarians, and the university at large.

With funding from the National Library of Medicine HIV/AIDS Community Information Outreach Program (ACIOP), librarians at the University of Florida Health Sciences Libraries partnered with university and community groups to facilitate collaboration, develop new information resources, develop information-seeking skills, and raise general awareness surrounding HIV/AIDS risks, prevention, and treatment. This article describes the skills development elements of the project, including development and implementation of an HIV/AIDS information resource curriculum for health care providers, social services professionals, and public librarians within the project's partner organizations.

BACKGROUND/AIM:Continuing competence activities hold the promise of improving health-care service quality, especially given concerns about system inefficiencies and fragmentation. The aim of this scoping review was to describe the assessment and maintenance of occupational therapists' continuing competence and identify knowledge gaps for future research. A secondary aim was comparing scoping review findings with those from other health-care fields and considering possible impact of varying international regulations. METHODS:A series of database searches retrieved peer-reviewed and grey literature on assessment and maintenance of occupational therapy continuing competence from 1995 to 2015. Themes were developed and findings shared with stakeholders, whose comments drove a second phase: searching for reviews related to continuing competence from allied health, medicine, and nursing, and reviewing websites and documents concerning regulatory requirements for occupational therapy continuing competence in seven English-speaking nations. RESULTS:Twenty-seven sources from the scoping review search met inclusion criteria. Stakeholder consultation validated the themes and preliminary knowledge gaps. Research into other health-care specialties corresponded to findings from the scoping review. The website/document review of occupational therapy regulatory requirements revealed wide variation on both the state/province and national levels. CONCLUSIONS:This scoping review highlights gaps in research on effective methods and assessment of occupational therapy continuing competence. Findings suggest a need for research on approaches to continuing competence that incorporate the translation of evidence to practice and address the influence of external factors. Regulatory agencies may address the quality of occupational therapy services by incorporating a variety of professional development options into requirements.

Demographic projections for people living in the United States indicate a growing need for information on disabilities. This article discusses a limited number of concepts in disability, along with relevant thesaurus terms and suggested search techniques in four databases: PubMed, CINAHL, REHABDATA, and the Center for International Rehabilitation Research Information and Exchange's (CIRRIE) Database of International Research. The article closes with annotations of potentially useful websites that focus on concerns of persons with disabilities, their caregivers, and researchers in disability.

Resources about HIV and AIDS: transmission and prognosis, prevention, treatment and suggestions on living with the disease.

Librarians at the University of Florida Health Science Center Libraries partnered with faculty to promote awareness of and access to research on women's health and sex and gender resources in an outreach project funded by the National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health Office of Research on Women's Health. The project featured elements that facilitated cross-disciplinary collaboration (using CoLAB Planning Series®, or CoLABs), instruction to various groups (including faculty, undergraduate students, graduate students, and professional students), collection development, and information dissemination. Librarians leveraged existing partnerships with faculty and built new ones. Success in this project demonstrates that libraries can partner effectively with their faculty on emerging trends and new initiatives.

The University of Florida's Health Science Center Libraries (HSCL) serve more than 12,000 faculty, students, staff, and administrators distributed among 6 colleges (dentistry, medicine, nursing, pharmacy, public health and health professions, and veterinary medicine) as well as associated centers and institutes (i.e., the Institute on Aging and the University of Florida Shands Cancer Center). Clients from other campus colleges such as liberal arts and sciences and agricultural and life sciences are patrons as well. The original library liaison program began at the Gainesville campus in the spring of 1999 as an outcome of strategic planning. Developed by a work group appointed in January 1998, this program was based on fifty-two potential liaison activities in seven focal areas and aimed to increase communication with clients and to customize services [1]. To increase their effectiveness, liaison librarians would focus on the subject matter of a limited number of disciplines, and clients would have one contact person with whom they could form a more personalized relationship [2]. Liaison librarians volunteered for, or were assigned to, specific colleges or departments based on their knowledge, skills, and interests. Each served as a “personal” librarian to local and distance education clients with activities tied to the seven focal areas. Individual librarians were assigned to the smaller University of Florida Health Science Center (HSC) Colleges of Nursing, Dentistry, Pharmacy, and Veterinary Medicine. The other librarians served departments in the two larger or more diverse colleges: medicine and public health and health professions. Ongoing program evaluations to address issues and challenges were planned. By 2001, 9 liaison librarian positions were funded by the HSCL and 2 were financed by other HSC units (the college of nursing and the Genetics Institute). The 9 library-funded individuals served as liaison librarians at least part-time. While the 2 unit-funded liaison librarians performed the same liaison duties as the other librarians, they provided additional services requested by their units. In 2003/04, a formal evaluation of the HSCL liaison librarian program was undertaken with 2 surveys, one for patrons and the other for liaison librarians, which provided information on the use and perceptions of the program's services and related issues. Further information was solicited from liaison librarians in 2 follow-up emails. Of the total 323 faculty and students who participated, 85.4% supported continuing the liaison librarian program [3]. However, the liaison librarian survey revealed some perceived barriers to the effective execution of liaison activities. In particular, the librarians expressed a need for a more structured approach to the program, more clearly defined expectations for their performance, and a formalized plan for training [4,5]. Additional challenges arose to compound these issues. In the following months, two librarians retired, another took a year-long sabbatical, one left for a six-month maternity leave sooner than planned and eventually took a position elsewhere, and a fifth librarian took an unexpected, extended medical leave. As a result, in October of 2005, liaison librarians met to discuss the evolution of the liaison librarian program, reassignment of liaison librarians to departments and colleges as staffing changes occurred, and issues that were identified in the evaluations of the liaison librarian program. This meeting resulted in the codified, levels-of-service document shown in Table 1. Table 1 Liaison librarian levels of service The document categorizes possible services into a graduated list of those duties that liaison librarians are expected to perform: basic services that can be offered based on patrons' needs and willingness to participate, elective services based on client requirements and librarians' time constraints, and an outline of possible activities that may be performed only by unit-funded liaison librarians. It can serve a number of purposes including aiding liaison librarians when they set priorities, affording official sanction when deciding to accept or decline a client request, reminding library administrators that they should consult with liaison librarians before embracing new client initiatives, and assisting in the planning process when services need to be suspended during staffing or budgeting fluctuations. During the creation process, some liaison librarians expressed concern about inequality in the services provided to some academic units covered by library-funded liaison librarians. All liaison librarians finally agreed that use of the tiers document would address this issue.