WELLNESS HEALTH INFORMATION RESOURCES: CRITERIA FOR SELECTION

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FRAMEWORK FOR COLLECTION OF WELLNESS RESOURCES

With the onus of responsibility resting increasingly on the health information seeker for making informed lifestyle choices, resources should be carefully selected to facilitate personal decision-making and behaviour change. Additionally both the information provider and health information seeker need discernment and awareness of the medical systems and their practice to make informed choices. A framework which defines wellness and its components should be identified. Wellness was defined and discussed in Chapter two, section 2.2.4 and the use of the acronym WELLNESS introduced to identify a specific approach to optimal health, that is wellness. The specific framework for WELLNESS is the approach to wellness advocated in the worldview and practice of the Seventhday Adventist (SDA) church. It is a lifestyle adopted and practiced by a large majority of its members worldwide.

Osteopathy

Andrew Taylor Still, disenchanted with conventional medicine founded the approach of Osteopathy. This worldview is basically mechanistic science, but with the idea that the body is able to make its own remedies against disease and toxic conditions when there is a normal structural relationship, adequate nutrition and good environmental conditions (Anderson & Jacobson 2003:142). Spinal manipulation is a key practice. This is supported by numerous scientific studies. Back pain continues to be a general problem of users for which conventional medicine has not provided satisfactory therapy (Kirschstein 2007).

Chiropractic

Daniel David Palmer worked originally as a magnetic healer and then developed an interest in the results of displaced vertebra. He was determined to find another way to heal besides using drugs (O’Mathuna & Larimore 2001:164). He researched the idea of spinal manipulation, which had been used for centuries, and worked out a series of procedures to bring health to muscles, organs and nerves that had moved out of alignment. This approach is defined as “a system of therapeutics based upon the claim that disease is caused by an abnormal function of the nervous system” (Anderson & Jacobson 2003:150). The focus is on the musculoskeletal system and realignment of any parts of the spine to deal with disease and to ensure good health.

Search (query formulation and expansion) and retrieval

The main reason for the construction of the WELLNESS thesaurus is to support searching and retrieval. A thesaurus is developed in order to match search terms and index terms to facilitate effective and consistent searching by: using a standard vocabulary to encourage uniformity of practice and easier exchange of information; vocabulary control; and determining relationships between terms and cross-references (Broughton 2006:39). If it was known how people use terms, it would simplify the problem of knowing what terms are used and which terms to include as indexing terms.

Source of metadata

Information about content, context and structure of records is critical as the volume of digital information increases. Metadata is data about data that is structured to describe an information resource (Lancaster 2003:12,343). It is “the term used for information attached to a document or resource that describes various features of the document” (Broughton 2006:216). Franks and Kunde (2006:56) quote the ISO15489 definition of metadata as “data describing context, content and structure of records and their management through time”. Metadata can guide the user in resource discovery. It is a structured format and controlled vocabulary that facilitates a precise description that supports comprehension of location, content and value.

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CHOICE OF DATABASE HOST

Before an analysis of the conceptual schema and its relation to and suitability for the database host could be undertaken in section 6.4, it was necessary to compare host options. A host is necessary to house the database. The Web interface communicates with the database through the web server to return the results of a user query to the web site. Possible host options included Seventh-day Adventist academic institutions, their library or health promotion or wellness programmes/departments; organisations that advocate the WELLNESS approach such as lifestyle institutes; an independent host not connected to any specific institution or organisation; or an organisation supported by the Seventh-day Adventist organisational structure.

TABLE OF CONTENTS :

Page
ABSTRACT
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
TABLE OF CONTENTS
LIST OF FIGURES
LIST OF TABLES
LIST OF ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS
CHAPTER ONE – GENERAL ORIENTATION AND PROBLEM FORMULATION
- 1.1 INTRODUCTION
- 1.2 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
- 1.3 RELATED RESEARCH PROJECTS
- 1.4 PROBLEM STATEMENT
- 1.5 RELEVANCE OF THE STUDY
  - 1.5.1 Epidemiological relevance
  - 1.5.2 Philosophical relevance
  - 1.5.3 Epistemological relevance
  - 1.5.4 Sociological relevance
  - 1.5.5 Psychological relevance
- 1.6 PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
- 1.7 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
  - 1.7.1 Literature analysis
  - 1.7.2 Focus group
  - 1.7.3 Adoption and adaptation of models and instruments
- 1.8 DELIMITATION OF THE FIELD OF STUDY
  - 1.8.1 The WELLNESS health information seeker
  - 1.8.2 Reference database
  - 1.8.3 Prototype database-driven web site
  - 1.8.4 Selected resources
  - 1.8.5 Use of conceptual schema
- 1.9 DEFINITION OF KEY CONCEPTS
CHAPTER TWO – HEALTH CARE: EMERGENCE OF A NEW WORLDVIEW
- 2.1 INTRODUCTION
- 2.2 CURRENT HEALTH CARE SITUATION
  - 2.2.1 Burden of chronic disease
  - 2.2.2 Limitations of conventional medicine and increasing Interest in CAM
  - 2.2.3 Health promotion and disease prevention
  - 2.2.4 Wellness and informed personal lifestyle choice
    - 2.2.4.1 Wellness strategy
    - 2.2.4.2 Personal choice
    - 2.2.4.3 Use of information
    - 2.2.4.4 Worldview and knowledge
    - 2.2.4.5 Empowerment and personal responsibility
2.3 HEALTH INFORMATICS
- 2.3.1 Consumer health informatics
2.4 CONCLUSION
CHAPTER THREE – THE USER PROFILE
- 3.1 INTRODUCTION
- 3.2 USER INFORMATION NEED
  - 3.2.1 Information need of health information seeker
- 3.3 USER INFORMATION BEHAVIOR
  - 3.3.1 Search processes
  - 3.3.2 The nature of Web search and retrieval capabilities
    - 3.3.2.1 Problems with Web search and retrieval
    - 3.3.2.2 Use of portals
    - 3.3.2.3 Use of search engines
  - 3.3.3 User interface
- 3.4 CHARACTERISTICS OF HEALTH INFORMATION SEEKER
  - 3.4.1 Demographics
  - 3.4.2 Valuegraphics
  - 3.4.3 User as health information consumer
  - 3.4.4 Types of health information seekers
  - 3.4.5 Patterns of use
  - 3.4.6 Health information literacy
  - 3.4.7 Web information searching behaviour
  - 3.4.8 Goals of health information-seeking behaviour
  - 3.4.9 Information and intervention
- 3.5 WELLNESS HEALTH INFORMATION SEEKER PROFILE
- 3.6 CONCLUSION
CHAPTER FOUR – WELLNESS HEALTH INFORMATION RESOURCES: CRITERIA FOR SELECTION
- 4.1 INTRODUCTION
- 4.2 FRAMEWORK FOR COLLECTION OF WELLNESS RESOURCES
- 4.3 DEVELOPMENT OF A MODEL FOR SELECTIO CRITERIA
  - 4.3.1 Science
  - 4.3.2 Worldview
  - 4.3.3 History
    - 4.3.3.1 Osteopathy
    - 4.3.3.2 Chiropractic
    - 4.3.3.3 Naturopathy
    - 4.3.3.4 Homeopathy
    - 4.3.3.5 Acupuncture
  - 4.3.4 Wholism
- 4.3.5 Discernment
- 4.4 SELECTION CRITERIA
CHAPTER FIVE – WELLNESS THESAURUS CONSTRUCTION
CHAPTER SIX – DATABASE DESIGN
CHAPTER SEVEN – WEB SITE DESIGN