The Occupational Therapy Thesaurus of Subject Headings
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The thesaurus of occupational therapy subject headings is a reference tool for use with OT SEARCH, the Occupational Therapy Bibliographic System. It lists all the terms currently used to index the holdings of Wilma L. West Library. This thesaurus is based on the National Library of Medicine's Medical Subject Headings (MeSH). In order to search OT SEARCH more efficiently and to improve the percentage of relevant references retrieved in a search, it is advisable to select appropriate terms from the thesaurus before performing a search.

Approved subject headings are printed in capital letters (e.g. DEVELOPMENTAL THERAPY). Terms that are not valid subject headings in searching OT SEARCH are printed in lower case (e.g. Early intervention programs). A reference is made from these terms to the approved subject heading(s). For example: Early intervention programs, use DEVELOPMENTAL THERAPY. The searcher is also directed to related terms by a "see also" note. For example, under NURSING HOMES, a note refers the user to the additional subject heading HOMES FOR THE AGED.

In some cases, subject headings are inverted. For instance: INSURANCE, HEALTH rather than health insurance. If you cannot find a multi-word subject heading in the thesaurus, look for the more general term in the alphabetical listing as in INSURANCE, HEALTH described above or EDUCATION, CONTINUING for continuing education.

Each subject heading is assigned a unique alphanumeric number or tree number which places the term in the hierarchical classification scheme or "tree" with a broader, narrower, or related term.