Acute mental health concerns in emergency settings: development and validation of an Ovid MEDLINE search filter
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5195/jmla.2025.2081Keywords:
search filter validation, search hedge validation, emergenciesAbstract
Background: The authors sought to develop and validate a search filter to retrieve research about acute mental health concerns during public health emergencies. They did so as a response to a recommendation from a previously published paper on searching for evidence in emergency contexts.
Methods: The definition of acute mental health was adapted from the DSM-5 and the DynaMed entries on acute stress and posttraumatic stress disorder. The definition of public health emergencies was adapted from the Canadian Medical Protective Association. The authors retrieved systematic reviews on mental health concerns pertaining to people in the community and healthcare workers during public health emergencies from MEDLINE. The authors formulated gold standard sets for each population group using articles included in these reviews. The authors then separated the articles into development and validation sets. Keywords and Medical Subject Heading (MeSH) terms from the title and abstracts in the Ovid records in the development sets were used to formulate the filter. The filter was tested via the relative recall method using the validation sets. The authors then tested the filter for precision by conducting MEDLINE (Ovid) searches for the following topics for acute mental health: (i) children/adolescents and earthquakes; (ii) children/adolescents and Ebola outbreaks; (iii) healthcare workers and earthquakes; and (iv) healthcare workers and Ebola outbreaks.
Results: The MEDLINE filter demonstrated 100% recall against the people in the community validation set and 98% recall against the healthcare worker validation set. The filter demonstrated the following percentages for the precision tests: (i) 94% for children/adolescents and earthquakes; (ii) 81% for children/adolescents and Ebola outbreaks; (iii) 81% for healthcare workers and earthquakes; and (iv) 79% for healthcare workers and Ebola outbreaks.
Conclusion: The authors developed a validated search filter that could be used to find evidence related to acute mental health concerns in public health emergencies. The authors recommend that researchers adapt and modify the search filter to reflect the unique mental health issues of their population groups.
References
North CS, Pfefferbaum B. Mental Health Response to Community Disasters: A Systematic Review. JAMA [Internet]. 2013 Aug 7 [cited 2024 Apr 14];310(5):507. Available from: http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?doi=10.1001/jama.2013.107799
Zhou Y, Sun Z, Wang Y, Xing C, Sun L, Shang Z, Liu W. The prevalence of PTSS under the influence of public health emergencies in last two decades: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Clin Psychol Rev [Internet]. 2021 Feb [cited 2024 Apr 14];83:101938. Available from: https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0272735820301264
Yunitri N, Chu H, Kang XL, Jen HJ, Pien LC, Tsai HT, Kamil AR, Chou K-R. Global prevalence and associated risk factors of posttraumatic stress disorder during COVID-19 pandemic: A meta-analysis. Int J Nurs Stud [Internet]. 2022 Feb [cited 2024 Apr 14];126:104136. Available from: https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0020748921002819
Santabárbara J, Lasheras I, Lipnicki DM, Bueno-Notivol J, Pérez-Moreno M, López-Antón R, De la Cámara C, Lobo A, Gracia-García P. Prevalence of anxiety in the COVID-19 pandemic: An updated meta-analysis of community-based studies. Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry [Internet]. 2021 Jul [cited 2024 Apr 14];109:110207. Available from: https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0278584620305236
Meherali S, Punjani N, Louie-Poon S, Abdul Rahim K, Das JK, Salam RA, Lassi ZS. Mental Health of Children and Adolescents Amidst COVID-19 and Past Pandemics: A Rapid Systematic Review. Int J Environ Res Public Health [Internet]. 2021 Mar 26 [cited 2024 Apr 14];18(7):3432. Available from: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/7/3432
The Hedges Team, Haynes RB, Kastner M, Wilczynski NL. Developing optimal search strategies for detecting clinically sound and relevant causation studies in EMBASE. BMC Med Inform Decis Mak [Internet]. 2005 Dec [cited 2024 Apr 14];5(1):8. Available from: http://bmcmedinformdecismak.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1472-6947-5-8
Brody S, Loree S, Sampson M, Mensinkai S, Coffman J, Mueller M, Askin N, Hamill C, Wilson E, McAteer MB, Staines H, Best Practices for Searching During Public Health Emergencies Working Group. Searching for evidence in public health emergencies: a white paper of best practices. J Med Libr Assoc [Internet]. 2023 Apr 21 [cited 2024 Apr 14];111(1/2):566–78. Available from: https://jmla.pitt.edu/ojs/jmla/article/view/1530
Canada’s Drug Agency. COVID-19 Search Strings [Internet]. Canada’s Drug Agency; 2024 [cited 2024 Jul 10]. Available from: https://www.cadth.ca/literature-searching-tools/cadth-covid-19-search-strings
SK COVID Evidence Support Team. COVID-19 Rapid Reviews [Internet]. SK COVID Evidence Support Team; 2022 [cited 2024 Jul 10]. Available from: https://library.saskhealthauthority.ca/friendly.php?s=covid-19/repository/home
Wolters Kluwer. Expert Searches [Internet]. Wolters Kluwer; 2024 [cited 2024 Jul 10]. Available from: https://tools.ovid.com/ovidtools/expertsearches.html
Sampson M, Zhang L, Morrison A, Barrowman NJ, Clifford TJ, Platt RW, Klassen TP, Moher D. An alternative to the hand searching gold standard: validating methodological search filters using relative recall. BMC Med Res Methodol. 2006 Jul 18;6:33. Available from: https://bmcmedresmethodol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1471-2288-6-33
Ayiku L, Levay P, Hudson T, Craven J, Barrett E, Finnegan A, Adams R. The medline UK filter: development and validation of a geographic search filter to retrieve research about the UK from OVID medline. Health Inf Libr J [Internet]. 2017 [cited 2024 Apr 16];34(3):200–16. Available from: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/hir.12187
Ayiku L, Levay P, Hudson T, Craven J, Finnegan A, Adams R, Barrett E. The Embase UK filter: validation of a geographic search filter to retrieve research about the UK from OVID Embase. Health Inf Libr J [Internet]. 2019 [cited 2024 Apr 16];36(2):121–33. Available from: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/hir.12252
Ayiku L, Craven J, Hudson T, Levay P. How to Develop a Validated Geographic Search Filter: Five Key Steps. Evid Based Libr Inf Pract [Internet]. 2020 Mar 27 [cited 2023 Jan 27];15(1):170–8. Available from: https://journals.library.ualberta.ca/eblip/index.php/EBLIP/article/view/29633
Wafford QE, Miller CH, Wescott A, Ramune K. Kubilius A. Meeting a need: development and validation of PubMed search filters for immigrant populations. J Med Libr Assoc [Internet]. 2024 Jan 11 [cited 2024 Apr 16];112(1):22–32. Available from: https://jmla.pitt.edu/ojs/jmla/article/view/1716
Prady SL, Uphoff EP, Power M, Golder S. Development and validation of a search filter to identify equity-focused studies: reducing the number needed to screen. BMC Med Res Methodol [Internet]. 2018 Oct 12 [cited 2023 Apr 12];18(1):106. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12874-018-0567-x
Avau B, Van Remoortel H, De Buck E. Translation and validation of PubMed and Embase search filters for identification of systematic reviews, intervention studies, and observational studies in the field of first aid. J Med Libr Assoc [Internet]. 2021 Nov 22 [cited 2023 Jan 27];109(4). Available from: https://jmla.pitt.edu/ojs/jmla/article/view/1219
Ayiku L, Hudson T, Glover S, Walsh N, Adams R, Deane J, Finnegan A. The NICE MEDLINE and Embase (Ovid) health apps search filters: development of validated filters to retrieve evidence about health apps. Int J Technol Assess Health Care [Internet]. 2021 Jan [cited 2024 Apr 16];37(1):e16. Available from: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/international-journal-of-technology-assessment-in-health-care/article/abs/nice-medline-and-embase-ovid-health-apps-search-filters-development-of-validated-filters-to-retrieve-evidence-about-health-apps/458C19CD00C034F336DD32AE6627231F
Morel T, Nguyen-Soenen J, Thompson W, Fournier JP. Development and validation of search filters to retrieve medication discontinuation articles in Medline and Embase. Health Inf Libr J [Internet]. [cited 2024 Apr 16];n/a(n/a). Available from: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/hir.12516
InterTASC Information Specialists’ Sub-Group. The ISSG Search Filter Resource [Internet]. InterTASC Information Specialists’ Sub-Group; 2024 [cited 2024 Jul 14]. Available from: https://sites.google.com/a/york.ac.uk/issg-search-filters-resource/home?pli=1
Health Improvement Scotland. Scottish Intercollegiate Guideline Network (SIGN) [Internet]. Health Improvement Scotland; [cited 2024 Jul 14]. Available from: https://www.sign.ac.uk/using-our-guidelines/methodology/search-filters/
Penn Medicine Center for Evidence-based Practice. CEP Methods Appendix: Standard search filters [Internet]. Penn Medicine Center for Evidence-based Practice. 2022 [cited 2024 Jul 14]. Available from: https://www.med.upenn.edu/CEP/assets/user-content/documents/cep-methods-appendix-07-2022.pdf
Boruff J. Search Strategy for Mental Health of Canadian Youth during Covid-19 [Internet]. McGill University; 2022 [cited 2023 Apr 21]. Available from: https://borealisdata.ca/dataverse/mcgill_librarian_ks_search_repository
Howell-Spooner, B. What approaches are effective to limit the spread of COVID-19 infection for healthcare workers in health facilities and how does it impact their mental health? 2020 Mar 30; Document no.: EOC033002-01 ESR. In: COVID-19 Rapid Evidence Reviews [Internet]. SK: SK COVID Evidence Support Team, c2020. 20 p. (CEST evidence search report). Available from: https://covid19evidencereviews.saskhealthauthority.ca/en/permalink/coviddoc14
Dalidowicz, M; Mueller, M. How has COVID-19 and the public health response to COVID-19 impacted mental health outcomes on children 5 to 18 years (school-age)? 2022 Mar 11, Document no.: PH021701v003 ESR. In: COVID-19 Rapid Evidence Reviews [Internet]. SK: SK COVID Evidence Support Team, c2022. 92 p. (CEST evidence search report). Available from: https://covid19evidencereviews.saskhealthauthority.ca/en/permalink/coviddoc454
Geoffrey & Robyn Sperber Health Sciences Library, University of Alberta. Health Sciences Search Filters [Internet]. Geoffrey & Robyn Sperber Health Sciences Library, University of Alberta; 2024 [cited 2024 Jul 14]. Available from: https://guides.library.ualberta.ca/health-sciences-search-filters
Kung, Janice Y. Search Filter to Retrieve Studies Related to Mental Health/Mental Illness in the OVID Embase Database. Geoffrey & Robyn Sperber Health Sciences Library, University of Alberta. Mar 13, 2023. Available from: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1sfwBUXj1uxLBDpj9u8IKGOWb2B0buoCQtduZSPsdWYY/edit?usp=sharing
Campbell, SM. Filter to Retrieve Studies Related to Post-Traumatic Stress from the Ovid EMBASE Database. Geoffrey & Robyn Sperber Health Sciences Library, University of Alberta. Rev. January 23, 2018. Available from: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_adcW-MmO3GV5Dg3Cw1Y-Al-X0BnUNK6NAvXt_riZig/edit?usp=sharing
CABI. searchRxiv [Internet]. CABI; 2024 [cited 2023 Apr 21]. Available from: https://www.cabidigitallibrary.org/journal/searchrxiv
Damarell RA, May N, Hammond S, Sladek RM, Tieman JJ. Topic search filters: a systematic scoping review. Health Inf Libr J [Internet]. 2019 Mar [cited 2024 Jul 15];36(1):4–40. Available from: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/hir.12244
Wilczynski NL, Haynes RB, Team Hedges. Optimal search strategies for identifying mental health content in MEDLINE: an analytic survey. Ann Gen Psychiatry [Internet]. 2006 Dec [cited 2024 Jul 14];5(1):4. Available from: https://annals-general-psychiatry.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1744-859X-5-4
United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction. Sendai Framework Terminology on Disaster Risk Reduction [Internet]. United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction; [cited 2024 Jul 15]. Available from: https://www.undrr.org/terminology/response
American Psychiatric Association, American Psychiatric Association, editors. Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders: DSM-5. 5th ed. Washington, D.C: American Psychiatric Association; 2013. 947 p.
DynaMed. Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) [Internet]. EBSCO Information Services; 2024 [cited 2024 Jul 15]. Available from: https://www-dynamed-com.shal.idm.oclc.org/condition/posttraumatic-stress-disorder-ptsd
Canadian Medical Protective Association. Public health emergencies and catastrophic events [Internet]. Canadian Medical Protective Association; 2020 [cited 2024 Jul 15]. Available from: https://www.cmpa-acpm.ca/en/membership/protection-for-members/principles-of-assistance/public-health-emergencies-and-catastrophic-events-the-cmpa-will-help
Downloads
Additional Files
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Mark Mueller, Nicole Askin

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.