Background
In May 2023 the head of the World Health Organisation (WHO) officially declared “an end to COVID-19 as a public emergency” (1). Nevertheless, the pandemic, during its course and afterwards, has had a substantial impact on people’s physical and mental health. This search strategy aims to identify literature that addresses the impact of covid on people’s psychological wellbeing and overall mental health. Constructed for use in APA PsycInfo by the Customer Success Team at Wolters Kluwer Health Learning Research and Practice (WKHLRP), equivalent searches have been similarly constructed for Ovid MEDLINE and Journals@Ovid. Points to note are as follows.
1. Bibliographic Databases and Controlled Vocabularies: Ovid MEDLINE and APA PyscInfo are both bibliographic databases, also referred to as Abstracting and Indexing (A&I) databases. That is to say, they are highly detailed sources of information about information, the latter in the form of mostly scientific journal articles, but also systematic reviews, controlled trials, conference proceedings etc.
Where possible full-text versions of bibliographic references are made available via included link-out options to full-text repositories, e.g. PMC. A characteristic of bibliographic databases is their use of a controlled vocabulary for both indexing and searching. For APA PsycInfo the controlled vocabulary is provided by the Thesaurus of Psychological Index Terms® (2) which maintained by the American Psychological Association (APA), is an indispensable aid to detailed and focused searching. Coupled with free-term searching, this bibliographic database offers a reliable means of looking for information on a topic quickly, yet comprehensively.
2. Search Strategy Formats: Line-by-Line or Paragraph-Based: There are differing schools of thought as to how to build a search strategy. Some prefer a line-by-line approach. Others are more inclined to enter the search terms one after another in an ongoing stream, separating out search terms and database instructions using combinations of brackets (parentheses) and Boolean Operators (OR, AND, NOT) – the paragraph approach. Each format has merits and disadvantages. The example given here is a hybrid of the two approaches.
Search Stategy
1. COVID-19 Vaccines/ or COVID-19/ or COVID-19 Testing/ or COVID-19 Serological Testing/ or SARS-CoV-2/ or exp coronavirus/
2. *mental health/ or exp *mental disorders/ or exp *anxiety disorders/ or exp *"disruptive, impulse control, and conduct disorders"/ or exp *"feeding and eating disorders"/ or exp *mood disorders/ or exp *personality disorders/ or exp *sleep wake disorders/ or exp *substance-related disorders/ or exp *"trauma and stressor related disorders"/ or exp *stress disorders, traumatic/ or hypochondriasis/ or resilience, psychological/
3. ("Alcohol abus$3" or "alcohol use$2" or Anxiety or Bereavement or Conflict$2 or Compulsion or coping or Cyberchondria or Depression or despair or "disruptive behavior" or Distress or "emotion regulation" or "financial strain" or Hypochondriasis or Isolation or Loneliness or "mental health" or mental or Mood or Obsession or "obsessive-compulsive" or "obsessive compulsive disorder" or overwhelmed or Panic or Posttraumatic or "Post trauma$3" or "prolonged grief" or Psychiatric or "psychiatric disorder" or "psychological well-being" or Psychologic or "psychological impact" or psychoses or psychosis or Ptsd or resilience or resilient or "social isolation" or Stress$3 or "substance use" or "Substance abuse" or Suicide or Suicidal or telepsychiatry or traumatic or violence or worry or "food security" or "community psychology" or fear or "self-harm" or bereavement or "death wish" or "sleep-wake disorder$1" or grief or "poor-sleep" or burnout or trichotillomania or mania$1 or traumatization or coronaphobia or phobia$1 or "impulse control" or "social support" or "moral distress").mp.
4. 1 and (2 or 3)
Reviewers
Primary: Michael Fanning
Secondary: Charlotte Viken
Review Date: 2024-05-08
Expiry Date: 2025-05-08
Original search produced by:
Ovid Training Team
References:
1. WHO chief declares end to COVID-19 as a global health emergency
https://news.un.org/en/story/2023/05/1136367
2. APA Thesaurus of Psychological Index Terms®
https://www.apa.org/pubs/databases/training/thesaurus
Citation:
Ovid Customer Support, Covid and Mental Health – APA PsycInfo, Ovid Expert Searches Portal, Version: 8th May 2024, Visited: 11th May 2024.