Question 16: Based on the answers to all of the above questions, rate the overall quality of the publication as a source of information about treatment choices
What the question is about and why it is important
Question 16 is an ‘intuitive summary’ of your responses to the preceding 15 questions. All publications will have deficiencies, and it is unlikely that any one publication will rate high on all of the questions. However, after completing all of the questions on DISCERN, you should have developed some feeling for the overall quality of the publication which will help you decide whether it is a useful and appropriate source of information about your treatment choices.
Rating the question
The guidelines below should help you to rate this question, but your judgement is also very important. It may encourage you to know that during the development and testing of the instrument, users independently reached very similar conclusions about the overall quality of the publications they were rating even though we did not provide very specific instructions for this question. DISCERN has been designed to help you develop your critical skills, so trust your own opinion!
Guidelines for rating the question:
High (5) - the publication rated high (4 or above) on the majority of questions. A high overall quality rating indicates the publication is ‘good’ quality - it is a useful and appropriate source of information about treatment choices.
Moderate (3) - the publication rated high and low on a similar number of questions, or the majority of questions rated in the mid-ranges (3). A moderate overall quality rating indicates the publication is ‘fair’ quality - it is a useful source of information about treatment choices but has some limitations. Additional information or support would definitely be needed.
Low (1) - the publication rated low (2 or below) on the majority of questions. A low overall quality rating indicates the publication is ‘poor’ quality - it has serious shortcomings and is not a useful or appropriate source of information about treatment choices. It is unlikely to be of any benefit and should not be used.