With advanced degrees in Psychology here at Suffolk, it's no surprise that we try to add useful, professional-grade online resources to our offerings. We've recently added two databases produced by the American Psychological Association (APA).
A press-release describes the first this way: "PsycTHERAPY is a database of therapy demonstration videos specifically developed to enable viewers to observe how therapists spontaneously employ different approaches and techniques in practice. At launch, PsycTHERAPY’s more than 300 videos provide illustrative examples from nearly 100 of the most renowned therapists in North America at work with participants (including individuals, couples, and families) via different approaches with persons facing an array of psychological challenges. Specific clinical topics and challenges (more than 200 in total) featured in videos include many of the main issues dealt with in psychotherapy and counseling, including addiction, anxiety, depression, divorce, and health and relationship problems. The database reflects the full breadth of clinical practice in the variety of approaches and topics represented in its content. Additional content is scheduled to be added to PsycTHERAPY on a biannual basis.
PsycTHERAPY is searchable in multiple ways. To ensure the most precise searching, each video is coded with index terms and metadata about the participants, the session content, and therapeutic approaches demonstrated. In addition, each video in PsycTHERAPY has a synchronized transcript, highlighting the content being spoken; users can skip to a desired section of the video by clicking on the corresponding text in the transcript."
For a Monitor on Psychology article about PsycTHERAPY , see this link. And for a tutorial on browsing the database effectively, click here.
By the way, I should warn users that because we run our databases through our proxy server (causing a mismatch in the APA's URLs) you may well get an unsettling warning when you try to access PsycTHERAPY that looks something like this:
Just click past it and don't be alarmed. We are trying to get this issue addressed, but it is not a real security threat. (For more on this odd occurrence, see this earlier blog entry.) You will also have to accept a "Disclaimer" agreement before accessing the database. This is also a benign step.
We've also added another APA file, but put it on the more familiar EBSCOhost platform. PsycTESTS joins our long-standing psychological test database, Mental Measurements Yearbook with Tests in Print as a key tool for identifying valid testing instruments. APA describes PsycTESTS as "a simple yet comprehensive solution for libraries and their patrons looking for access to test content. PsycTESTS will be updated monthly and includes more than 2,200 indexed test records, with more than 1,500 ready-to-use instruments." And that last phrase is the key. Unlike files that only identify useful measures, PsycTESTS actually provides access to selected tests.
To read a Library Journal review of PsycTESTS (which looked at the clunkier PsycNET version), click here. Although not uncritical, the review concludes that PsycTESTS is "a small but focused database that fills a specific information need."
And for an interesting tutorial on tracking the reliability and validity of the available instruments using the EBSCOhost version, see this YouTube video.
[Find PsycTHERAPY and PsycTESTS on our A-Z database list, or in our Subject Database List for the Social Sciences.]
