Use of the DISCERN Instrument by Patients and Health Professionals to Assess Information Resources on Treatments for Asthma and Atopic Dermatitis

ABSTRACTBackgroundAs 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.MethodsIn 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.ResultsThere 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.ConclusionsWe 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.