Information needs of public health professionals in Russia

Abstract

Purpose To analyze information needs of the Russian public health professionals Methods Statistical, sociological, bibliometrics and content analysis Objectives To analyze results of a survey of information needs of public health professionals; To analyze requests by public health professionals; To present topics and types of information resources needed by public health professionals Results public health professionals usually prepare informational and analytical reports and reviews for decision-makers. Therefore, it is important to understand what issues this group of information consumers is interested in, as well as what information resources they may need. To address this purpose, the authors have surveyed this group of specialists and analyzed their requests for information submitted to WHO Documentation Center in the Russian Federation. The results obtained made it possible to define major information needs of Russian public health professionals. By topics, they are arranged as follows: analysis and trends in mortality by age and cause of death; analysis and trends in fertility; analysis of information resources on healthy lifestyles, physical activity, healthy diet an risk factors, as well as analysis of international experience and comparisons. Distribution by information resources used by the public health professionals: Russian collections of statistical data, National report on health; articles from Russian journals on public health and nutrition; statistical databases of the World Health Organization; Eurostat; WHO reports on different public health issues (tobacco control, excessive alcohol consumption, obesity and unhealthy diet, etc.); WHO/Europe reports on health and well-being; WHO evidence reports on public health problems; PubMed - articles on public health questions; Cochrane library, etc. Key messages This poster presents the results of a study of the information needs of public health professionals. The study was conducted by interviewing these specialists at conferences and seminars.