Research guides: MHCJ: Mental Health, Addictions and Criminal Justice: Home

This guide contains information and links to resources related to mental health, addictions and criminal justice, including academic article databases, ebooks, websites, and more.

Some of the online resources included in this guide are licensed for use by students and employees of Camosun College and may require you to log in with your student or employee number.

See the other subject guides listed below for additional related content:

Camosun Single Search

Best bets

Mental health and substance abuse topics try these library databases:

APA PsycInfo This link opens in a new window
Considered the major psychology database, APA PsycInfo is a resource devoted to peer-reviewed literature in behavioral science and mental health.
DSM-5-TR manual This link opens in a new window
Our subscription also includes the American Journal of Psychiatry, Psychiatric Services, and Psychiatric News.
NOTE: Use "Advanced" search options to limit search to Published in: Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.
CINAHL Ultimate (Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature) This link opens in a new window
CINAHL Ultimate provides more than 1,300 full text journals from the fields of nursing and allied health. It covers more than 50 nursing specialties and includes quick lessons, evidence-based care sheets, CEU models and research instruments. Includes Canadian and international full-text non-open access journals

For criminal justice and criminology topics try these library databases:

Sage Criminology Collection This link opens in a new window
Access to over 20 journal titles specific to the subject of criminology and criminal justice. To find journal articles, search within individual subject titles or use "Advanced Search" and select "Only content I have full access to."
Canadian Business & Current Affairs Database (CBCA Complete) This link opens in a new window
CBCA Complete includes scholarly journal articles, trade publications, dissertations, books, newspapers and magazines.
Social Sciences Full Text This link opens in a new window
All social science topics (anthropology, sociology, political science, psychology, criminology articles); mainly journals, some magazines.

Interdisciplinary search strategies

When looking for interdisciplinary information try searching for articles, ebooks, books and other resources using search terms from both subject areas. For example, try searching for both a specific mental health or addiction concept and a criminal justice concept.

AND narrows your search by combining all terms to be included
OR expands your search by including similar search concepts
" " searches multiple words as a single concept

Sample search:

Search concept vocabulary suggestions:

Mental health or Addiction	AND	Criminal justice concept
"mental health" "mental illness" addiction alcoholism schizophrenia trauma victimization "substance abuse"		"criminal justice" criminology crime "restorative justice" forensics prisons policing rehabilitation
	OR
bipolar counselling "drug use"	juvenile assessment treatment	offenders laws detention

Using reference resources

Encyclopedias, biographical dictionaries and other reference sources are great for getting background information about your topic. They can provide the basic information you need to start your research and often, a list of suggested readings.

They provide the well-known facts: definitions, major dates, key contributions.
They are trustworthy and reliable, giving you the correct information you need for presentations and research reports.
If you don't know very much about your topic, or you're just starting your research, begin with reference books.

Alcohol and Drugs in North America: A Historical Encyclopedia This link opens in a new window
This encyclopedia looks at the history of all drugs in North America, including alcohol, tobacco, prescription drugs, cannabis, cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, and even chocolate and caffeinated drinks.
Encyclopedia of Drugs, Alcohol & Addictive Behavior (Gale) This link opens in a new window
Explores the social, medical, legal and political issues related to drugs and alcohol and associated behaviors.
Wiley Encyclopedia of Forensic Science (Gale) This link opens in a new window
A comprehensive, definitive, and up-to-date reference of the main areas of specialist and expert knowledge and skills used by those involved in all aspects of the forensic process.

Sample reference resources

Online legal dictionary

Canadian Online Legal Dictionary (Irwin Law)
Dictionary of legal terms drawn from Irwin Law publications.

Remote access

The off campus login for library resources is the same as your Camosun domain account login (also used for D2L).

You can reset your Camosun domain password at https://password.camosun.ca.

For other problems accessing library resources off campus, please submit a trouble report.

Logging in to library databases
Shows how to log in to Camosun Library databases from the Databases A-Z page.