Terms used in DISCERN

treatment

Treatment means a course of action adopted to deal with a health problem or illness. Treatments can be conventional (or orthodox) or complementary (or alternative), and can include self-care (or self-help) i.e ways in which you can help yourself or make yourself feel better, and psychological treatments.

treatment choices

Treatment choices refers to the range of possible options for dealing with a health problem and includes both treatments and no treatment. No treatment options include postponing treatment, watchful waiting (monitoring how the condition progresses without treatment) and forgoing treatment.

Outcomes

Outcomes are the short-term and long-term effects of a treatment choice, and include the benefits and risks of a treatment choice.

publication

A publication is any written document that provides information about treatment choices specifically for heath consumers. Publications an include printed materials such as books, leaflets, factsheets and newspaper and magazine articles, and online health information such as personal and professional web pages, items from social media, discussion groups, news services and blogs.