title: Identifying acne treatment uncertainties via a James Lind Alliance Priority Setting Partnership.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The Acne Priority Setting Partnership (PSP) was set up to identify and rank treatment uncertainties by bringing together people with acne, and professionals providing care within and beyond the National Health Service (NHS).
  
  
  METHODS
  The UK with international participation.
  
  
  METHODS
  Teenagers and adults with acne, parents, partners, nurses, clinicians, pharmacists, private practitioners.
  
  
  METHODS
  Treatment uncertainties were collected via separate online harvesting surveys, embedded within the PSP website, for patients and professionals. A wide variety of approaches were used to promote the surveys to stakeholder groups with a particular emphasis on teenagers and young adults. Survey submissions were collated using keywords and verified as uncertainties by appraising existing evidence. The 30 most popular themes were ranked via weighted scores from an online vote. At a priority setting workshop, patients and professionals discussed the 18 highest-scoring questions from the vote, and reached consensus on the top 10.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In the harvesting survey, 2310 people, including 652 professionals and 1456 patients (58% aged 24 y or younger), made submissions containing at least one research question. After checking for relevance and rephrasing, a total of 6255 questions were collated into themes. Valid votes ranking the 30 most common themes were obtained from 2807 participants. The top 10 uncertainties prioritised at the workshop were largely focused on management strategies, optimum use of common prescription medications and the role of non-drug based interventions. More female than male patients took part in the harvesting surveys and vote. A wider range of uncertainties were provided by patients compared to professionals.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Engaging teenagers and young adults in priority setting is achievable using a variety of promotional methods. The top 10 uncertainties reveal an extensive knowledge gap about widely used interventions and the relative merits of drug versus non-drug based treatments in acne management.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust, Harrogate, UK.
authors.forename: Alison
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0473-3319
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Layton
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust, Harrogate, UK.
authors.forename: E Anne
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Eady
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust, Harrogate, UK.
authors.forename: Maggie
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Peat
authors.affiliation: Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, Leeds, UK.
authors.forename: Heather
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Whitehouse
authors.affiliation: Departmemt of Dermatology, Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, Norwich, UK.
authors.forename: Nick
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3393-8305
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Levell
authors.affiliation: School of Social and Community Medicine, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK.
authors.forename: Matthew
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7954-8823
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ridd
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Health and Social Care, University of Hull, Hull, UK.
authors.forename: Fiona
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Cowdell
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacy, University of Huddersfield, Huddersfield, UK.
authors.forename: Mahenda
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Patel
authors.affiliation: Science Technology Medicine, The British Library, London, UK.
authors.forename: Stephen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Andrews
authors.affiliation: Yorkshire and Humber Clinical Research Network, Sheffield, UK.
authors.forename: Christine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Oxnard
authors.affiliation: UK Database of Uncertainties about the Effects of Treatment (UK DUETS), National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, London, UK.
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fenton
authors.affiliation: James Lind Alliance, NIHR Evaluation Trials and Studies Co-ordinating Centre, Southampton, UK.
authors.forename: Lester
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Firkins
mesh_terms: D000152:Acne Vulgaris / Q000628:therapy*; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D035843:Biomedical Research; D005260:Female; D006282:Health Personnel; D006292:Health Priorities; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010361:Patients; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D035501:Uncertainty; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: DERMATOLOGY; QUALITATIVE RESEARCH