If you specifically want to find information about the different types of treatment available and the potential side effects and how successful it may be, below is a list of things to look out for when reading articles.
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
(for example, the DISCERN questionnaire )
Th US Government’s FTC website explains the importance of being sceptical when reading such information.