Quick reference guide to the DISCERN criteria
A good quality publication about treatment choices will:
- Have explicit aims
- Achieve its aims
- Be relevant to consumers
- Make sources of information explicit
- Make date of information explicit
- Be balanced and unbiased
- List additional sources of information
- Refer to areas of uncertainty
- Describe how treatment works
- Describe the benefits of treatment
- Describe the risks of treatment
- Describe what would happen without treatment
- Describe the effects of treatment choices on overall quality of life
- Make it clear there may be more than one possible treatment choice
- Provide support for shared decision-making
This guide should only be used once you are acquainted with the full DISCERN
instrument.