The Mental Health Abstracts database contains references to journal articles, books, book chapters, book reviews, research reports, dissertations and conference proceedings. It indexes over 1,000 journals, though most are not covered in their entirety. Only those articles dealing with mental health and related topics are included.
We can compare the database with Psychological Abstracts since it covers some of the same information but is more limited in scope. While Psychological Abstracts covers all aspects of psychology, Mental Health Abstracts focuses on such topics as aging, alcoholism, mental retardation, behavioral medicine, motivation, child psychology & psychiatry, cognition, depression, psychopharmacology, schizophrenia, drug abuse, sleep, ethics, stress, suicide, treatment and therapy. For those interested in this area of psychology, Mental Health Abstracts can provide an alternative or an additional resource for research.
The U.S. National Institute of Mental Health maintained the Mental Health Abstracts database from 1969‐1982. Beginning with 1983, however, IFI/Plenum Data Corporation (3202 Kirkwood Highway, Wilmington, DE 19808, phone: 800‐331‐4955) began updating it. The database contains about half a million records and has no print counterpart. This index is only available online or on CD‐ROM.
Installation of the search engine for use with DOS or Windows is not a problem since the product requires no installation and thus uses no hard disk space. However, one can install the search engine on the hard disk, if so desired, for faster response. Search engines are available for Windows, MS‐DOS, and Macintosh platforms. For this review, we examined only the Windows and DOS platforms. The database uses a controlled vocabulary for indexing and can be searched using either the controlled vocabulary or free text search terms. Searches can also be sorted, saved, and printed.
Using the DOS search engine, the options are menu‐driven. One can select the “Easy Menu Search” which is useful for beginning searchers but is cumbersome to use if a complex search is desired. It requires the searcher to return to the menu for each word or phrase included or excluded from the search. The menu descriptions can be somewhat confusing. For anything beyond the most simple search, the “Easy Menu Option” can be awkward to use.
However, for those familiar with Dialog searching, a command line interface is available which works exactly like Dialog online. This option is much more elegant and powerful but can be used only by those familiar with the Dialog command line search. This option also allows going online directly to Dialog without exiting the CD‐ROM to update a search with the latest information in the online database. (Of course, one must have access to Dialog with a modem or direct connection and a password to exercise this option.)
Using the Windows search engine, searching is fairly intuitive. One chooses “Search/Modify” from the toolbar and then selects whether to search by keyword, title, author, journal name, publication year, or document type. There is also an option to limit the search to English language only or non‐English language only results. To modify search results, one chooses “Search/Modify” again and selects the type of modification desired, i.e., using “and,” “or,” or “not” as limiters and limiting the search to the same document, field, or subfield.
The CD‐ROM can be used under MS‐DOS, Windows, or on a Macintosh. The Macintosh requires a 68030+ Mac (256 colors recommended), System 7+, a CD‐ROM drive, and 8 MB RAM. The PC version requires a 386/25 system with Windows 3.1 or higher (Windows 95 compatible), 4 MB RAM, a CD‐ROM drive, VGA monitor, and a mouse. The CD‐ROM was reviewed under MS‐DOS and Windows 95 on a Pentium PC with 16 MB RAM.
Customer service is available by phone, email and fax. The Knight‐Ridder technical service number is toll free and a web site is available (http://ww.krinfo.com/dialog/krod/odhome.html) for further information, including technical use tips. I experienced a wait time of less than five minutes when I called customer service to get further information on the product. However, during one call, the representative promised to call me back with needed information within ten minutes but my call was not returned until two weeks later.
The Mental Health Abstracts database on CD‐ROM is recommended for academic and medical libraries with specializations in counseling, clinical psychology, or psychiatry.
