Table 1.

Overview of the Community Deliberation and Citizens’ Panel methods

Characteristic	Community Deliberation (CD)	Citizens’ Panel (CP)
Number of groups	24 groups	Four groups
Average number of participants per group	12 participants per group	24 participants per group
Structure and intensity	6 h total; two 2.5‐h sessions 1 wk apart with 1‐h average online time between sessions	20 h total over 2.5 consecutive days; two 8‐h days and one 4‐h day
Mode of communication	Face to face; asynchronous online communication between sessions	Face to face
Facilitation	Active facilitation by individuals trained on topics such as encouraging equal participation, eliciting opposing viewpoints, and remaining impartial. Facilitators had backgrounds in health care but were not content experts in antibiotic overuse
Use of background materials	Participants received written materials about medical evidence, comparative effectiveness research, health care quality, and U.S. health care costs. Materials were designed to provide neutral and unbiased background information to inform deliberation
Discussion of case study about antibiotic overuse	Discussed during the first session in person and on the online discussion board. Discussed again at the beginning of the second session. Facilitators encouraged participants to weigh the medical evidence about antibiotic overuse with parent and physician autonomy to use antibiotics. Facilitators also prompted discussion about whether the societal harm that might result from antibiotic overuse should warrant rules that limit when antibiotics can be prescribed	Discussed on the first day of deliberation for less time than CD participants. Facilitators prompted discussion that focused on whether the societal harm that might result from antibiotic overuse should warrant rules that limit when antibiotics can be prescribed
Use of content experts for antibiotic‐related discussion	In the week between the face‐to‐face sessions, participants communicated with two content experts via an online discussion board about antibiotic overuse. Experts presented different sides of the antibiotic overuse issue and answered participant questions	CP participants did not discuss the antibiotic case study with content experts
Other case studies/topics discussed during deliberation that are not included in this analysis a	Hospital quality at high and low volume facilities	Hospital quality at high and low volume facilities, obesity treatment and prevention, heart disease treatment, prevention of a fictional illness

^aThese additional case studies were designed to help participants grapple with the complex overarching question posed in the larger study. Additional details about these case studies are available elsewhere.31