Addiction Ontology: Applying basic formal ontology in the addiction domain

Hastings, Janna, Cox, Sharon, West, Robert and Notley, Caitlin ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0876-3304 (2020) Addiction Ontology: Applying basic formal ontology in the addiction domain. Qeios.

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Abstract

Ontologies are being used in many areas of science to improve clarity and communication of research methods, findings and theories. Many of these ontologies use an upper level ontology called Basic Formal Ontology (BFO) as their frame of reference. This article summarises Basic Formal Ontology and shows how it can provide a basis for development of an Addiction Ontology that encompasses all the things that addiction researchers, practitioners and policy makers want to refer to. BFO makes a fundamental distinction between what it calls continuants (e.g. objects and their characteristics) and occurrents (e.g. processes). Classifying addiction-related entities using this system enables important distinctions to be made that are frequently overlooked or confused in the literature due to inherent ambiguities in natural language expressions. The Addiction Ontology uses this framework to convey information about: people and populations and their characteristics (e.g. substance use disorder), products (e.g. heroin, tobacco-containing products), behaviours (e.g. cigarette smoking, alcohol consumption), interventions (e.g. detoxification, rehabilitation, legislation), research (e.g. measurement, theories, study designs), organisations (e.g. pharmaceutical industry, tobacco companies), and settings (e.g. hospital outpatient clinic, country).

Item Type:	Article
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Norwich Medical School
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Centres > Norwich Institute for Healthy Aging Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Groups > Epidemiology and Public Health Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Groups > Public Health and Health Services Research (former - to 2023)
Depositing User:	LivePure Connector
Date Deposited:	15 Dec 2020 00:50
Last Modified:	24 May 2023 04:25
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/77970
DOI:	10.32388/HZHJIP

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