%0 Journal Article
%T Quality assessment of expert answers to lay questions about cystic fibrosis from various language zones in Europe: the ECORN-CF project
%A Daniela d'Alquen
%A Kris De Boeck
%A Judy Bradley
%A V¨§ra V¨¢vrov¨¢
%A Birgit Dembski
%A Thomas OF Wagner
%A Annette Pfalz
%A Helge Hebestreit
%J BMC Medical Research Methodology
%D 2012
%I BioMed Central
%R 10.1186/1471-2288-12-11
%X The quality assessment tool was developed by an expert panel. Five experts within the ECORN-CF project used the quality assessment tool to analyze the quality of 108 expert answers published on ECORN-CF from six language zones. 25 expert answers were scored at two time points, one year apart. Quality of answers was also assessed at an early and later period of the project. Individual rater scores and group mean scores were analyzed for each expert answer.A scoring system and training manual were developed analyzing two quality categories of answers: content and formal quality. For content quality, the grades based on group mean scores for all raters showed substantial agreement between two time points, however this was not the case for the grades based on individual rater scores. For formal quality the grades based on group mean scores showed only slight agreement between two time points and there was also poor agreement between time points for the individual grades. The inter-rater agreement for content quality was fair (mean kappa value 0.232 ¡À 0.036, p < 0.001) while only slight agreement was observed for the grades of the formal quality (mean kappa value 0.105 ¡À 0.024, p < 0.001). The quality of expert answers was rated high (four language zones) or satisfactory (two language zones) and did not change over time.The quality assessment tool described in this study was feasible and reliable when content quality was assessed by a group of raters. Within ECORN-CF, the tool will help ensure that CF patients all over Europe have equal possibility of access to high quality expert advice on their illness.Cystic fibrosis (CF) is an autosomal recessive inherited disease caused by mutation of the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) gene, coding for a protein functioning as a transmembrane epithelial chloride channel [1]. It is a multi-system disease characterized by progressive pulmonary damage leading to respiratory failure, pancreatic dysfunction, l
%U http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2288/12/11