Gerontology

• Resources
• Research strategies
• Writing and citing

Resources for Gerontology

• Definitions, facts, figures and overviews
• Books and more
• Subject readings
• Journal articles
• Internet sites

• Related resources:
  • Evidence-based Health Practice
  • Governments and organisations

Gerontology definitions, facts, figures and overviews

• Dictionaries help you to define your keywords
• Encyclopedias help you to get an overview of your topic and provide more information than a dictionary
• Handbooks and manuals provide figures and facts

Online dictionaries and encyclopedias

Print dictionaries and encyclopedias

To find additional reference items

1. Search the Library Catalogue
2. Select advanced keyword search
3. Combine a broad keyword AND the word dictionar**
   
   nurs* AND dictionar** [link to catalogue search]
   
   medicine AND encycloped** [link to catalogue search]
   
   
4. To retrieve variations of your keyword use the truncation symbol **
   e.g. medicin** will retrieve medicine, medicines, medicinal

Need help? Ask a question.

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Gerontology books and more

Search the Library Catalogue to find books, DvDs, videos

If you know the exact title

1. Select title search
2. Type in the exact title
3. Check the location, call number and status boxes to find the item in the Library collection

If you don't have an exact title OR only have a topic area

1. Select advanced keyword search
2. Type in keywords from your topic
3. Combine your keywords with AND to find catalogue records that contain all of your keywords
   
   e.g. older people AND policy
   
   
4. To retrieve variations of your keyword use the truncation symbol **
   
   e.g. nurs* will retrieve nurse, nurses, nursing

Catalogue search tips:

• Too many hits? Add another keyword e.g.older people AND policy AND car*
  OR
  Use the limit functions in advanced keyword search e.g. limit by publication date, format, location
• Found a useful title? Click on the subject headings to find similar material
• Studying at a different UOW campus? Use an advanced keyword search and limit by location

Need help? Ask a question.

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Gerontology journal articles

Search a database to find journal articles, book chapters, conference papers and research reports

Try these first

Complete list of Health & Behavioural Sciences databases

Found a useful reference?

Some databases do not provide the fulltext of the article. To locate these articles you will need to search the catalogue to determine if the Library holds the journal title(s) either in print or electronically on another database.

Database search tips:

• Break your topic into keywords and/or phrases. The search strategy worksheet will help you
• Consider alternative keywords or spelling variations
• To narrow your search combine your keywords with AND to find records that contain all your keywords
  
  e.g. geriatrics AND Australia
  
  
• To broaden your search combine your keywords with OR to find records that contain either of your keywords
  
  e.g. aging OR ageing
  
  
• Use truncation to retrieve variations of your keyword.
  
  e.g. medicin* will retrieve medicine, medicines, medicinal
  
  
• Found a useful reference? Use the subject headings to find similar material
• Use library database tips or the database help screens for tips on how to search

More information: Finding Journal Articles Tutorial

Need help? Ask a question.

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Gerontology Internet sites

It is important to critically evaluate all information found on the Web.

Try the following sites as a starting point (this is not an exhaustive list)

Reports & policies

• Aged Care (general)
• Dementia
• Elder abuse
• Indigenous Ageing communities
• Search engines
• Directories
• UOW sites

Aged Care (general)

• Ageing publications from the Department of Health and Ageing
• National Service Framework for Older people [PDF]
  UK National Service Frameworks (NSFs) are long term strategies for improving specific areas of care
• Seeking Consent: Working with older people [PDF]
  Provides legal and best practice guidance in the UK

Dementia

• National Framework for Action on Dementia [PDF]
  Consultation paper for an Australian National Framework. See also responses from Alzheimer's Australia on the AA website
• Care of Patients with Dementia in General Practice [PDF]
  Report by NSW Health and Royal Australian College of General Practitioners
• National Service Framework for Mental Health [PDF]
  Long term strategy and implementation in the UK

Elder abuse

• Missing voices: views of older people on elder abuse [PDF]
  Report by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and International Network for the Prevention of Elder Abuse
• No secrets: Guidance on developing and implementing multi-agency policies and procedures to protect vulnerable adults from abuse [PDF]
  Good practice from the UK Department of Health

Indigenous ageing communities

• Beginning the conversation : Addressing dementia in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Communities [PDF]
  Report from the National Indigenous Forum, Alzheimer's Australia
• Dementia prevalence and incidence among Australians who do not speak English at home [PDF]
  Executive Summary of a report for Alzheimer's Australia
• Aged Care for Older People from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Communities [PDF]
  Information sheet from the Department of Health and Ageing

Search engines

Search engines create databases using computer programs called 'spiders', 'robots' or 'crawlers' that trawl the web and other Internet sites and return results to the database.

Try these first:

• Google Scholar
• HealthInsite (Australian)

Directories

Directories organise Internet resources by subject. The information provided in directories is created, arranged and maintained by people rather than machines.

• HealthInsite (Australian)
  Aims to improve the health of Australians by providing easy access to quality information about human health. An Australian Government initiative.
• Healthfinder
  US Department of Health and Human Services consumer information web site
• WWW Virtual Library
  Links to other virtual libraries

UOW sites

• Eastern Australia Dementia Training Centre (EADTC)
• School of Nursing, Midwifery & Indigenous Health
• Illawarra Institute for Mental Health (iiMH)

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Last reviewed: 5 July, 2007