Department of Public Health, Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), Bilthoven, The Netherlands.
Health Res Policy Syst. 2018 Mar 7;16(1):20. doi: 10.1186/s12961-018-0279-z.
Policy-makers, managers, scientists, patients and the general public are confronted daily with figures on health and healthcare through public reporting in newspapers, webpages and press releases. However, information on the key characteristics of these figures necessary for their correct interpretation is often not adequately communicated, which can lead to misinterpretation and misinformed decision-making. The objective of this research was to map the key characteristics relevant to the interpretation of figures on health and healthcare, and to develop a Figure Interpretation Assessment Tool-Health (FIAT-Health) through which figures on health and healthcare can be systematically assessed, allowing for a better interpretation of these figures.
The abovementioned key characteristics of figures on health and healthcare were identified through systematic expert consultations in the Netherlands on four topic categories of figures, namely morbidity, healthcare expenditure, healthcare outcomes and lifestyle. The identified characteristics were used as a frame for the development of the FIAT-Health. Development of the tool and its content was supported and validated through regular review by a sounding board of potential users.
Identified characteristics relevant for the interpretation of figures in the four categories relate to the figures' origin, credibility, expression, subject matter, population and geographical focus, time period, and underlying data collection methods. The characteristics were translated into a set of 13 dichotomous and 4-point Likert scale questions constituting the FIAT-Health, and two final assessment statements. Users of the FIAT-Health were provided with a summary overview of their answers to support a final assessment of the correctness of a figure and the appropriateness of its reporting.
FIAT-Health can support policy-makers, managers, scientists, patients and the general public to systematically assess the quality of publicly reported figures on health and healthcare. It also has the potential to support the producers of health and healthcare data in clearly communicating their data to different audiences. Future research should focus on the further validation of the tool in practice.
政策制定者、管理者、科学家、患者和公众每天都会通过报纸、网页和新闻稿中的公共报告接触到有关健康和医疗保健的数字。然而,对于正确解释这些数字所需的关键特征的信息往往没有得到充分传达,这可能导致误解和决策失误。本研究的目的是绘制与解释健康和医疗保健数字相关的关键特征,并通过开发健康数字解释评估工具(FIAT-Health),对健康和医疗保健数字进行系统评估,从而更好地解释这些数字。
通过在荷兰对四个主题类别的数字(发病率、医疗保健支出、医疗保健结果和生活方式)进行系统的专家咨询,确定了与健康和医疗保健数字解释相关的关键特征。所确定的特征被用作开发 FIAT-Health 的框架。该工具的开发及其内容得到了潜在用户咨询小组的定期审查的支持和验证。
确定的与四个类别中数字解释相关的特征与数字的来源、可信度、表达方式、主题、人口和地理重点、时间段以及基础数据收集方法有关。这些特征被转化为一套 13 个二分法和 4 点李克特量表问题,构成了 FIAT-Health,以及两个最终评估陈述。FIAT-Health 的用户将获得他们答案的摘要概述,以支持对数字的正确性和报告的适当性进行最终评估。
FIAT-Health 可以帮助政策制定者、管理者、科学家、患者和公众系统地评估公共报告的健康和医疗保健数字的质量。它还有潜力支持健康和医疗保健数据的生产者更清晰地向不同受众传达他们的数据。未来的研究应集中在该工具在实践中的进一步验证上。