ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To develop guidance for authors of diagnostic test accuracy (DTA) reviews to help them write a plain language summary of the results of their review. STUDY DESIGN AND SETTING: We used a combination of focus groups, user testing, and a web-based survey. Participants included patient representatives, media representatives, and health professionals. RESULTS: We present step-by-step guidance for authors of DTA reviews for writing a plain language summary. This guidance is illustrated with examples of reader-tested sentences, explanations, and a figure. CONCLUSION: We hope this guidance will allow reviewers to present the findings of DTA reviews so that it is easier for readers to understand the results and conclusions. This will increase the accessibility of these reviews for various audiences.
Subject(s)
Diagnostic Tests, Routine/methods , Review Literature as Topic , Writing/standards , Data Accuracy , Focus Groups , Humans , Quality Improvement , Reproducibility of ResultsABSTRACT
Risk-adjusted survival statistics after children's heart surgery are published annually in the United Kingdom. Interpreting these statistics is difficult, and better resources about how to interpret survival data are needed. Here we describe how a multidisciplinary team of mathematicians, psychologists, and a charity worked with parents of heart surgery children and other users to codevelop online resources to present survival outcomes. Early and ongoing involvement of users was crucial and considerably changed the content, scope, and look of the website, and the formal psychology experiments provided deeper insight. The website http://childrensheartsurgery.info/ was launched in June 2016 to very positive reviews.
