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HHPS 7303 - Evaluation of Health Programs - Kanekar

This guide is designed to help you find evidence for a literature review and presentation.

Discover the purpose of a literature review

A literature review seeks to identify, analyze and summarize the published research literature about a specific topic. 

The purpose of a literature review is to establish what is currently known about a specific topic and to evaluate the strength of the evidence upon which that knowledge is based. A review of a clinical topic may identify implications for clinical practice. Literature reviews also identify areas of a topic that need further research.

A systematic review is a literature review that follows a rigorous process to find all of the research conducted on a topic and then critically appraises the research methods of the highest quality reports. These reviews track and report their search and appraisal methods in addition to providing a summary of the knowledge established by the appraised research.

The quality of a literature review is largely determined by the the research question and search process.

Top tips for you to know. - Keywords

You may want to start by doing a keyword search for your population group and specific health focus/condition:

  • African Americans and diabetes

You may find information on programs or interventions by doing a keyword search for the name of the health focus/condition and one of these terms:

program* intervention* prevent* Examples: obesity and program*

  • obesity and intervention*    
  • obesity and prevent*

You can try a subject search for the name of your population group and health and hygiene.

African Americans Health and Hygiene

You might do a subject search for the name of the health focus/condition and try some of the headings and subheadings links:

  • Obesity
  • Obesity - Prevention
  • Substance Abuse
  • Substance Abuse  -  United States -  Prevention

Other subject searches you might try include the following:

  • Health Education
  • Health Promotion
  • Health Attitudes
  • Health Behavior
  • Health Psychology

Tips for you to know - Statistics & Guidelines

  • Using data and statistics can help demonstrate who big your problem is.  The use of data and statistics can help provide creditability to your claim or approach. 
  •  You may need to contact the Arkansas agency directly if you are not finding statistics or information on programs.
  • Each county in Arkansas has its own health department. You may need to contact the local health department for local statistics and information.
  • Most statistics you will find are several years old. The reason for this is it takes time to compile and analyze data
  • In addition to statistics, these website generally provide guidelines or examples which may help jumpstart your efforts.