Use of the DISCERN instrument by patients and health professionals to assess information resources on treatments for asthma and atopic dermatitis.
BACKGROUND
As patients share in the decision-making process regarding treatments they receive, it is important that they can discriminate between reliable and unreliable sources of information about potential treatments.


METHODS
In this study, health professionals and patients were asked to assess the reliability of information contained in pamphlets on treatments for asthma and atopic dermatitis using a new Japanese translation of an instrument called DISCERN. The scores given by both groups were analyzed to assess inter-rater agreement. The same DISCERN instrument was used by health professionals to evaluate websites on treatments for atopic dermatitis and the degree of inter-rater agreement was assessed again.


RESULTS
There was a greater inter-rater agreement between health professionals than between patients. When health professionals used the instrument to evaluate websites, the final rankings given were consistent between different raters, showing good inter-rater agreement.


CONCLUSIONS
We conclude that DISCERN is useful for evaluating the reliability of medical information both in pamphlets and on the internet, although it is used more effectively by health professionals than by patients. Further studies are needed on the use of DISCERN by patients in evaluating websites containing medical information.
Batchelor
Jonathan M
JM
Department of Allergy, National Center for Child Health and Development, Tokyo, Japan. jonathan.batchelor@addenbrookes.nhs.uk
Ohya
Yukihiro
Y
D001249:Asthma / Q000628:therapy*; D003876:Dermatitis, Atopic / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D008490:Medical Informatics; D010174:Pamphlets