DISCERN

DISCERN

DISCERN

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For the California-based company, see Discern Group Inc.

DISCERN is an instrument designed to provide users with a reliable way to measure the quality of written health information. It was originally developed by Deborah Charnock, Sasha Shepperd, Gill Needham, and Robert Gann, who reported on its development and validation in a February 1999 paper.[1]

DISCERN is designed for use by individual consumers, health information providers, and health professionals. The instrument contains 15 questions that may be rated on a scale of 1–5. Questions are intended to draw user attention to issues of potential bias, content currency, relevance, clarity, evidence, and balance.[2]

The DISCERN website was launched in May 1999. Despite originally being developed using printed materials, the tool has been shown to be effective at evaluating the quality of health information on the internet, as well as for printed information.[3][4]

References

  1. [1]
    Charnock D, Shepperd S, Needham G, Gann R (February 1999). "DISCERN: an instrument for judging the quality of written consumer health information on treatment choices". Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health. 53 (2): 105–11. doi:10.1136/jech.53.2.105. PMC 1756830. PMID 10396471.
  2. [2]
    Charnock D (compiler). The DISCERN Handbook Archived 2018-11-23 at the Wayback Machine. Radcliffe Medical Press Ltd.
  3. [3]
    Charnock D, Shepperd S (August 2004). "Learning to DISCERN online: applying an appraisal tool to health websites in a workshop setting". Health Education Research. 19 (4): 440–6. doi:10.1093/her/cyg046. PMID 15155597.
  4. [4]
    Rees CE, Ford JE, Sheard CE (July 2002). "Evaluating the reliability of DISCERN: a tool for assessing the quality of written patient information on treatment choices". Patient Education and Counseling. 47 (3): 273–5. doi:10.1016/S0738-3991(01)00225-7. PMID 12088606.


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