Searching for disability in electronic databases of published literature

Emily S. Walsh, M.P.H.d, Jana J. Peterson, M.P.H., Ph.D.d, Dolores Z. Judkins, M.L.S., The Expert Panel on Health Care Disparities Among Individuals With Disabilities

dThese authors were at Oregon Health & Science University when this work was conducted.

eThe DRRP Expert Panel consists of Elena M. Andresen, Charles Drum, Glenn Fujiura, Willi Horner-Johnson, Lisa Iezzoni, and Gloria L. Krahn.

Disability and Health Journal, Vol. 7, Issue 1, p114–118
Published online: November 18, 2013
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.dhjo.2013.10.005

Background

As researchers in disability and health conduct systematic reviews with greater frequency, the definition of disability used in these reviews gains importance. Translating a comprehensive conceptual definition of “disability” into an operational definition that utilizes electronic databases in the health sciences is a difficult step necessary for performing systematic literature reviews in the field. Consistency of definition across studies will help build a body of evidence that is comparable and amenable to synthesis.

Objective

To illustrate a process for operationalizing the World Health Organization’s International Classification of Disability, Functioning, and Health concept of disability for MEDLINE, PsycINFO, and CINAHL databases.

Methods

We created an electronic search strategy in conjunction with a reference librarian and an expert panel. Quality control steps included comparison of search results to results of a search for a specific disabling condition and to articles nominated by the expert panel.

Results

The complete search strategy is presented. Results of the quality control steps indicated that our strategy was sufficiently sensitive and specific.

Conclusions

Our search strategy will be valuable to researchers conducting literature reviews on broad populations with disabilities.