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September 24th 2008
Interview with Sasha Shepperd, Msc., D.Phil, NIHR Research Scientist in Evidence Synthesis & University Research Lecturer, University of Oxford
Who can use DISCERN?
Shepperd: Patients require good quality evidence-based information so they can take an active role in decisions about their health care. The objective was to develop a short instrument in order to enable patients and information providers to judge the quality of written information about treatment choices.
An expert panel generated criteria from a random sample of information for three medical conditions (myocardial infarction, endometriosis and chronic fatigue syndrome) with varying degrees of evidence. A draft instrument, based on this analysis, was tested by the panel on a random sample of new material for the same three conditions. The panel re-drafted the instrument to take account of the results of the test. The DISCERN instrument was finally tested by a sample of 15 information providers and 13 self help group members. The final instrument consisted of 15 questions plus an overall quality rating. Responses to the questionaire completed by the participants after the final testing revealed the instrument to have good face and content validity.
[Charnock D, Shepperd S, Needham G, Gann R. DISCERN: an instrument for judging the quality of written consumer health information on treatment choices. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 1999;53:105-111]
Can DISCERN also be used as a process to judge/assess health information over the Internet?
Shepperd: Yes. In 2004 it was shown that 96% of 57 participants attending DISCERN Online workshops agreed DISCERN would help users discriminate between high- and low-quality online treatment information, and would be applicable to a wide variety of such information.
[Charnock D, Shepperd S. Learning to DISCERN online: applying an appraisal tool to health websites in a workshop setting. Oxford Journals Health Education Research, 2004; 19:440-446]
What are the overall benefits for the public and patients using DISCERN?
Shepperd: It represents a standardized approach to assessing the quality of health information and alerts them to the key issues that can be considered when deciding to use the information in decision making.
For medical experts in particular, it is sometimes difficult to express medical terms or explanations for patients in a clear and understandable way. With this in mind, do you think that DISCERN can be helpful in improving communication in favour of the so-called "shared-decision making" process?
Shepperd: Yes. It unpacks some of the concepts and gives the health care provider a structured way.
[Godolphin PhD et al. Evaluation of the quality of patient information to support informed shared decision-making. Blackwell Science Ltd, 2001;4:355-242]
What are your recommendations concerning the production of health information?
Shepperd: DISCERN can provide a framework for the production of health information.
How many independent participants should be used to assess and discuss written information using DISCERN?
Shepperd: There is no golden rule. It depends on the field or area.
In which countries is DISCERN currently used?
Shepperd: United Kingdom, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Turkey, Japan and Denmark.
Are there any plans for the further development or update of the DISCERN?
Shepperd: We have recently produced DISCERN Genetics, which was developed as an appraisal tool for patients and other users of information about genetic screening and testing.
Thank you very much for this interview.
You can find further information about DISCERN at www.discern.org.uk
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Last update: 14.10.2008
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