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Overview

Searching for health psychology research articles can be challenging because a general search in the Library will often return articles with a medical focus rather than a psychology focus. The search below will walk you through the steps for finding articles specific to health psychology.

As you review your results, look at the publication information underneath each article title in your results list to determine if the article is from a medical journal or a psychology journal. Although medical journals are likely to focus on medical factors, psychologists publish their research in journals from a variety of disciplines. Look to see if the article lists the author’s credentials to help determine if the article is from a medical perspective or psychology perspective.

Set up your search

Now you're on the main search page of the database APA PsycInfo where you can set up your search using the three search boxes at the top of the page.

Enter your topic in the search boxes using the format below. In the last search box enter psych*. This will search all forms of the word psychology (psychological, psychosocial, psychotherapy, psychiatric, psychiatry, etc.) and is more likely to return results with a health psychology emphasis versus a medical emphasis.

  1. Break your topic into keywords and enter one idea or concept per box.


    In the top search box enter:

    coping mechanisms OR coping strategies OR coping behavior

    Note: Combine related terms and concepts in one search box separated by OR. This returns results that include any of these terms.

    In the middle search box enter:

    chronic disease OR chronic illness

    In the bottom search box enter:

    psych*

    Note: Include the * (asterisk) in your search to search all spelling variations of that word.
     


     

  2. Scroll down the page, and under Limit your results, click the boxes for Full Text and Peer Reviewed Scholarly Journals. Enter 2017 in the first box under Publication Date to limit to about the last 5 years.
     


     

  3. Click the Search button.

  4. To see the journal title, look for the publication information under each article in the results list.
     


     

  5. To see the authors' credentials, click the article title to view information about the article. If their credentials are not listed there, open the full article to see if they're listed on the article itself.