Theoretical Foundations in Human Relationships Research

Handbooks and Encyclopedias

Handbooks and subject-specific encyclopedias are comprehensive reference works that contain foundational to information, instructions, or practical guidance on a specific topic. You can search Omni for these by including "handbook" or "encyclopedia" as a title word in your search. Here is a link to such a search:

Spiritual Care or Psychotherapy 

Videos

Counseling and Therapy in Video

Collection of videos concerning social work, psychotherapy, psychology, and psychiatric counseling.

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psychotherapy.net

Collection of training videos for mental health professionals.

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ChatGPT (OpenAI)

While using ChatGPT or Copilot (both based on OpenAI data) for academic research can be helpful in getting a general overview, explaining complex concepts in simpler terms, or generating keywords or search terms for databases, there are several important reasons why you should avoid relying on it as a primary or sole source for academic research.

1. Limited language model
   • ChatGPT queries a large language model made up of public, freely available data (web pages, Wikipedia, etc.), and does not include much academic or peer-reviewed content.
2. Lack of source transparency
   • ChatGPT doesn’t cite sources unless explicitly asked, and even then, it can generate fake or inaccurate citations. This makes it unsuitable for producing verifiable, citable academic content.
3. Potential for inaccuracy
   • While ChatGPT is generally reliable, it can produce confident-sounding but incorrect or misleading information, especially in niche or rapidly evolving fields.
4. Lack of critical analysis
   • ChatGPT summarizes well but does not engage in deep, critical thinking or original analysis, which is essential for high-quality academic work.

Read about the process in this book:

Campbell, A., Taylor, B. & McGlade, A. (2017). Reviewing the literature. In Transforming Social Work Practice Series: Research design in social work (pp. 9-26). 55 City Road, London: SAGE Publications, Inc. doi:10.4135/9781473909618.n2

See this example of a literature review:

Kader, S. (2016). Development of hospice environmental assessment protocol (HEAP): A post occupancy evaluation tool.  (chapters 2 and 4; page 63 for methodology)

In general, when looking for previous research in spiritual care and psychotherapy, you will be consulting and citing three formats:

journal articles

Hansen, K. L., Nielsen, S. L., Erekson, D. M., Fischer, L., Pedersen, T. R., & Smith, T. B. (2023). Effects of religious and spiritual struggles on psychotherapy process and outcome. Spirituality in Clinical Practice. https://doi.org/10.1037/scp0000343

books

Pargament, K. I. & Exline, J. J. (2022). Working with spiritual struggles in psychotherapy: from research to practice. The Guilford Press.

book chapters

Khan, S. (2022). A Sufi Muslim model of spiritually integrative psychotherapy. In Spiritual diversity in psychotherapy: Engaging the sacred in clinical practice (pp. 113–136). American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/0000276-006

A library database is an online searchable collection of information, often in the form of references to articles, books, and book chapters (but also newspaper articles, thesis, music, etc.). These examples offer a glimpse of how databases are used.

Dissertation

Lee, J. (2015). The effects of music on pain: A review of systematic reviews and meta-analysis (see page 33)

Scholarly Article

Alvarenga, W., Leite, A., Oliveira, M., Nascimento, L., Silva-Rodrigues, F., Nunes, M., & Carvalho, E. (2017). The Effect of Music on the Spirituality of Patients: A Systematic Review. Journal of Holistic Nursing, 36(2), 192–204. https://doi.org/10.1177/0898010117710855

Systematic Review

Spain D, Sin J, Paliokosta E, Furuta M, Prunty JE, Chalder T, Murphy DG, Happé FG. Family therapy for autism spectrum disorders. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2017, Issue 5. Art. No.: CD011894. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD011894.pub2. (see Methods, and Appendix 1)

1. Tutorial: Developing a research question: for graduate students
2. Consider word variations and synonyms
   • think about how others might refer to your ideas
   • e.g., child death, perinatal death, neonatal death, stillbirth, sudden infant death, etc.

1. Employ search limiters (available limiters depend on the database)
   • peer reviewed, article type, date
   • e.g., in PsycInfo, can include: age group, population group, methodology
2. Identify key publications and authors
   • note citations, and cited references, repeated author names
3. Document and track everything you do in the steps above

Tutorial: Finding scholarly articles on a topic

• start with Omni
  • limit to "Articles" and "Peer-reviewed journals"
    • while you will likely find what you need for this class, article content in Omni is not chosen or curated, but dumped in, i.e., it may not have everything on a particular topic.

Researchers rely on curated collections of content, i.e., subject-specific databases.

Tutorial: Finding books in Omni

• start with Omni
  • limit to "Books and eBooks" 

Requesting items from another Omni library is prety straightforward, but remember you can request any item even if it is not in Omni. 

• Request from other libraries

Predatory journals are a global threat. They accept articles for publication — along with authors’ fees — without performing promised quality checks for issues such as plagiarism or ethical approval. (Grudniewicz, A., Moher, D., Cobey, K. D., Bryson, G. L., Cukier, S., Allen, K., & Ardern, C. (2019). Predatory journals: no definition, no defence. Nature, 576(7786), 210+)

• Rising number of ‘predatory’ academic journals undermines research and public trust in scholarship (The Conversation, Sept. 19, 2023)
• Google News search for "predatory journals"
• International Journal of Physical Education, Sports and Health (example)
• Beall's list (wikipedia page)
• Think. Check. Submit.

Examples

Greenhalgh, T. (2019). How to Read a Paper: The Basics of Evidence-Based Medicine and Healthcare. (6th ed.). John Wiley & Sons.

Grant, M., & Booth, A. (2009). A typology of reviews: an analysis of 14 review types and associated methodologies. Health Information and Libraries Journal, 26(2), 91–108. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1471-1842.2009.00848.x

• Use Sage Reference to learn about research methodologies, e.g, action research, grounded theory, or literature reviews, e.g.,
  • Sage Handbook of Grounded Theory
  • Sage Handbook of Ethnography
  • Sage Handbook of Narrative Inquiry
  • Sage Handbook of Performance Studies
  • NOTE: Laurier does not own all Sage Handbooks online

Dissertations and theses may be considered scholarly sources since they are closely supervised by a dissertation committee made up of scholars, are directed at an academic audience, are extensively researched, follow research methodology, and are cited in other scholarly work.

However, dissertations are still considered student work and are not peer-reviewed. Always clarify with your instructor as to whether you can include and cite dissertations and theses in your research.

• ProQuest Dissertations & Theses

While the Library owns print copies of the entire APA Style guide, you should get enough information from the following two APA pages:

• APA Style - Principals and guidelines
• APA Style - Reference examples
• APA Style - How to cite ChatGPT
• APA Style - Bias free language