Research Guides: Program Planning, Theory, and Practice: SBS 5002: Find Theories

Health, Social and Behavioral Theories

The Cambridge Handbook of Social Theory by Peter Kivisto (Editor)
ISBN: 9781107162648
Publication Date: 2020-12-17
The researchers take stock of the state of social theory and its relationship to the canon, exploring such topics as the nature, purpose, and meaning of social theory; the significance of the classics; the impact of specific individual and theory schools; and more.
Health Behavior Theory for Public Health Principles, Foundations, and Applications by Ralph J. DiClemente
ISBN: 9781284129892
Publication Date: 2018-04-03
This text examines health behavior theory, through the context of the "New Public Health". The book takes an ecological approach to learning about health behavior theory and its application. Topics covered include (1) health, public health, health behavior and health promotion planning; (2) commonly applied theories and approaches to public health research and programs; (3) essential tasks of measurement, evaluation, and translation through an examination a diverse set of application tools. New chapters include intervention mapping and social network theory.

Theory at a Glance: A Guide For Health Promotion Practice (Second Edition) (2005)
Published by the National Cancer Institute, based on the first edition authored by Barbara Rimer Dr.P.H. and Karen Glanz Ph.D., M.P.H. Rimer and Glanz also authored Health behavior theory, research, and practice (2015).

Theory as Subject Heading

For database with a controlled vocabulary (also called a thesaurus, subject headings, descriptors), in advanced search, enter the word "theory" or the name of the theorist to get a list of theories or a name of a theory. To do a keyword search, enter a specific theory (e.g. conflict theory) in the search box and try searching all fields or the subject field. The next section on Database Language provides guidance and links to tutorials on using database thesaurus and subjects.

Other tips:

Subject dictionaries, thesauri, and Credo Reference can help identify theories and sources.
Search Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) and enter the relevant subject heading in the Subject field alone or with other terms (e.g. theory) in the Subject or in All fields. Examples:
- Health behavior
- Health behavior--Age factors; Health behavior in adolescence; Health behavior in children
- Health promotion
- Social sciences--Philosophy (used for Social Theory)
- Action theory
Programs, evaluations, and intervention studies may also state the theories that inform their studies or programs. This may not always show up in the title or abstract. Looking at the table of contents or outline of the article on the publisher website may help to identify the section that discusses theories.
Web of Science does not have a controlled vocabulary but has subject categories and meso topics. You can enter a specific theory or from the results, look for theory in the discussion.
Use database guides, tutorials, search tips, tools, and help to efficiently search, filter, save/download, cite and more. Main database platform guides: ProQuest, EBSCOhost, PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, Gale, ERIC, GovInfo

CINAHL This link opens in a new window
CINAHL Provides indexing for nursing and health journals. The database contains records dating back to 1972. In addition, the database offers access to health care books, nursing dissertations, and selected conference proceedings.
CINAHL Abstracting and Indexing Database
Nurses, allied health professionals, researchers, nurse educators and students depend on the CINAHL Database to research their subject areas from this authoritative index of nursing and allied health journals. CINAHL indexes the top nursing and allied health literature available including nursing journals and publications from the National League for Nursing and the American Nurses Association. CINAHL also includes rigorous curation and indexing of open access (OA) journals, which has resulted in a growing collection of 1,446 active global OA journals.  Once validated and certified for inclusion, these OA journals are treated with high-quality subject indexing and sophisticated, precise/accurate full-text linking.
Subject Headings
CINAHL Subject Headings help users effectively search and retrieve information and follow the structure of the Medical Subject headings (MeSH) used by the National Library of Medicine. These Subject Headings help researchers find new concepts, including COVID-19, social distancing and vaping as well as local terminology.
Content Includes
3,814 active indexed and abstracted journals
3,461 active peer-reviewed indexed and abstracted journals
1,312 journals with searchable cited references
APA PsycInfo This link opens in a new window
APA PsycInfo contains citations and summaries of journal articles, book chapters, books and technical reports, as well as citations to dissertations, all in the field of psychology and psychological aspects of related disciplines, such as medicine, psychiatry, nursing, sociology, education, pharmacology, physiology, linguistics, anthropology, business and law.
ProQuest Social Science Premium Collection This link opens in a new window
Social Science Premium Collection contains international literature in social sciences, including politics, public policy, sociology, social work, anthropology, criminology, linguistics, library science, and education.

Database Language

Platform-wide thesaurus and subjects

The ProQuest and EBSCOhost interface or platforms (multi-disciplinary database aggregators) provide full-text access, each has a platform-wide thesaurus that applies to ALL of its databases.