Review of the Quality of YouTube Videos Recommending Exercises for the COVID-19 Lockdown

Taking a Closer Look: "Evaluating Online Video Content for Rehabilitation after Distal Radius Fracture"

Background: Fractures of the distal radius are among the most common bone injuries, and their frequency is constantly increasing, leading to an elevated need for subsequent rehabilitation. This growing need has led to the emergence of online content aimed at providing guidance on rehabilitation. Nonetheless, unreviewed online content raises concerns about its reliability; therefore, the objective of this study was to evaluate the quality, reliability, and comprehensiveness of online videos concerning rehabilitation following a distal radius fracture. Methods: A total of 240 YouTube videos were screened, identifying 33 videos that met the inclusion criteria. These selected videos were evaluated by five independent experts from various professional groups, using the Global Quality Scale, the DISCERN reliability tool, and the JAMA Benchmark Score, as well as a structured set of questions to assess their comprehensiveness and coverage of pertinent aspects. Results: The observers' assessment of the Global Quality Scale exhibited a broad spectrum of viewpoints, indicating considerable variability in evaluations. In most cases, therapy aligned well with the diagnosed condition, and most raters deemed the indication and instruction in the videos acceptable. A proportion of 87% of the videos was deemed suitable for home training by at least three raters. However, a concerning trend emerged, as potential risks and pitfalls were scarcely addressed. Conclusions: The moderate overall quality of the videos and the divergence in expert opinions highlight the need for a regulatory authority to ensure adherence to guidelines and maintain high-quality content. Additionally, our results raise concerns about the applicability of established assessment tools in this context.

Gynecomastia Surgery Patient Education: An Information Quality Assessment of YouTube Videos

BACKGROUND

YouTube is a platform for many topics, including plastic surgery. Previous studies have shown poor educational value in YouTube videos of plastic surgery procedures. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the quality and accuracy of YouTube videos concerning gynecomastia surgery (GS).

METHODS

The phrases "gynecomastia surgery" (GS) and "man boobs surgery" (MB) were queried on YouTube. The first 50 videos for each search term were examined. The videos were rated using our novel Gynecomastia Surgery Specific Score to measure gynecomastia-specific information, the Patient Education Materials Assessment Tool (PEMAT) to measure understandability and actionability, and the Global Quality Scale to measure general quality.

RESULTS

The most common upload source was a board-certified plastic surgeon (35%), and content category was surgery techniques and consultations (51%). Average scores for the Global Quality Scale (x̄ = 2.25), Gynecomastia Surgery Specific Score (x̄ = 3.50), and PEMAT Actionability (x̄ = 44.8%) were low, whereas PEMAT Understandability (x̄ = 77.4%) was moderate to high. There was no difference in all scoring modalities between the GS and MB groups. Internationally uploaded MB videos tended to originate from Asian countries, whereas GS videos tended to originate from non-US Western countries. Patient uploaders had higher PEMAT Actionability scores than plastic surgeon uploaders.

CONCLUSIONS

The quality and amount of gynecomastia-specific information in GS videos on YouTube are low and contain few practical, take-home points for patients. However, understandability is adequate. Plastic surgeons and professional societies should strive to create high-quality medical media on platforms such as YouTube.

Assessing the quality and reliability of YouTube videos as a source of information on inflammatory back pain

Background

Inflammatory back pain is a chronic condition with localized pain, particularly in the axial spine and sacroiliac joints, that is associated with morning stiffness and improves with exercise. YouTube is the second most frequently used social media platform for accessing health information. This study sought to investigate the quality and reliability of YouTube videos on inflammatory back pain (IBP).

Methods

The study design was planned as cross-sectional. A search was conducted using the term "inflammatory back pain," and the first 100 videos that met the inclusion criteria were selected on October 19, 2023. The data of the videos selected according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria in the study settings were examined. Videos with English language, with audiovisual content , had a duration >30 s, non-duplicated and primary content related to IBP were included in the study. A number of video parameters such as the number of likes, number of views, duration, and content categories were assessed. The videos were assessed for reliability using the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Benchmark criteria and the DISCERN tool. Quality was assessed using the Global Quality Score (GQS). Continuous variables were checked for normality of distribution using Shapiro-Wilk test and Kolmogorov-Smirnov test. Kruskal-Wallis test and Mann-Whitney U test were used to analyze the continuous data depending on the number of groups. Categorical data were analyzed using Pearson's chi-square test.

Results

Reliability assessment based on JAMA scores showed 21% of the videos to have high reliability. Quality assessment based on GQS results showed 19% of the videos to have high quality. JAMA, DISCERN, and GQS scores differed significantly by source of video (p < 0.001, < 0.001, and = 0.002, respectively). Video duration had a moderate positive correlation with scores from the GQS (r = 0.418, p < 0.001), JAMA (r = 0.484, p < 0.001), and modified DISCERN (r = 0.418, p < 0.001).

Conclusion

The results of the present study showed that YouTube offers videos of low reliability and low quality on inflammatory back pain. Health authorities have a responsibility to protect public health and should take proactive steps regarding health information shared on social media platforms.

The quality and content analysis of YouTube videos about chemotherapy for children

PURPOSE

This study undertook a systematic examination of YouTube videos about chemotherapy for pediatric patients, with a primary focus on assessing the videos' quality, content, and reliability.

METHOD

The research was conducted by searching YouTube using the keywords "chemotherapy for children" and "chemotherapy for pediatric," employing filters for "worldwide" and "all categories." The top 100 videos, based on popularity, were selected for evaluation according to the power analysis calculation. Two independent experts in pediatric oncology reviewed these videos. Video characteristics were recorded: length, view count, likes, dislikes, view ratio, and video-like ratio. The Video Power Index was calculated to measure video popularity. The modified DISCERN and Global Quality Scale (GQS) assessed the videos for quality and reliability.

RESULTS

The 100 videos were analyzed. Official health institutions uploaded 54%, while independent users contributed 46%. Independent user uploads garnered significantly more views than official health institutions (p = .006). The number of likes, view ratio, and Video Power Index of independent users' videos were significantly higher than official health institutions' videos (respectively, p = .007, .007, and .008). On the other hand, the modified DISCERN score and GQS were significantly higher in YouTube videos of official health institutions than in independent users (p < .001). A strong correlation was observed between the modified DISCERN score and GQS (r = .879, p < .001).

CONCLUSION

This study provides valuable insights into the YouTube videos on pediatric chemotherapy, emphasizing the need to improve the quality and reliability of online health information for this vulnerable population.

Text-Mining and Video Analytics of COVID-19 Narratives Shared by Patients on YouTube

This study explores how individuals who have experienced COVID-19 share their stories on YouTube, focusing on the nature of information disclosure, public engagement, and emotional impact pertaining to consumer health. Using a dataset of 186 YouTube videos, we used text mining and video analytics techniques to analyze textual transcripts and visual frames to identify themes, emotions, and their relationship with viewer engagement metrics. Findings reveal eight key themes: infection origins, symptoms, treatment, mental well-being, isolation, prevention, government directives, and vaccination. While viewers engaged most with videos about infection origins, treatment, and vaccination, fear and sadness in the text consistently drove views, likes, and comments. Visuals primarily conveyed happiness and sadness, but their influence on engagement varied. This research highlights the crucial role YouTube plays in disseminating COVID-19 patient narratives and suggests its potential for improving health communication strategies. By understanding how emotions and content influence viewer engagement, healthcare professionals and public health officials can tailor their messaging to better connect with the public and address pandemic-related anxieties.

Assessing the scientific quality and reliability of YouTube videos about chemotherapy

No studies have evaluated the interaction, quality, and reliability of chemotherapy-related videos published on YouTube. The aim was to evaluate the content of YouTube videos about chemotherapy using 5 different scoring tools. In this cross-sectional register-based study, popular videos on YouTube about the following keywords were examined; "chemotherapy," "what is chemotherapy," "types of chemotherapy," "chemotherapy side effects" and "chemotherapy treatments." Quality and reliability of video content were measured using the modified DISCERN (mDISCERN), the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), the Global Quality Score (GQS), the Video Information Quality Index (VIQI), and Health on the Net code (HONcode) scores. A total of 108 videos were analyzed in the study. The median duration was 200 (30-2020) seconds and the median total number of views was 17500 (61-8615000). Among the video publishers, private hospitals were the most (n = 36, 33%). The most (n = 71, 66%) populer category of videos were patient education videos. Half (n = 55, 51%) of the narrators in the videos were only oncology professionals. Mean DISCERN, JAMA, GQS, VIQI, and HONcode scores were 2.73 ± 1.18, 1.97 ± 1.05, 2.94 ± 1.08, 14.03 ± 3.73, and 4.68 ± 2.46, respectively. A positive correlation was found between the 5 scoring points (P < .001 for all pairwise comparisons). There was a significant difference between video quality scores according to video categories and video publishers (P < .001 for both). Although most YouTube videos about chemotherapy were helpful to patients, content quality and reliability were moderate-low. Cancer patients looking for information on chemotherapy may find YouTube videos beneficial, but clinicians must be cautious to clear up any misunderstandings.

Pneumonia: A Cross-Sectional Study of the Quality and Reliability of the Content on Instagram

INTRODUCTION

In today's society, Instagram (Meta Platforms, Inc., Menlo Park, California, United States) has grown to be a platform of enormous importance. It has completely changed the way we connect, share, and consume content, with several active users. Instagram may be a powerful tool for education, helping to inform and raise public awareness of a range of health conditions, including pneumonia. The present paper aims to evaluate and analyze the type, quality, and reliability of information about pneumonia being shared on Instagram.

METHODOLOGY

Using the hashtags  #pneumonia, #pneumoniasucks, #pneumoniatreatment, #pneumoniaawareness, #pneumoniaviral, #pneumoniaisnojoke, data regarding the type of post, number of audience reached, and type of uploader was collected from the related Instagram posts. Global Quality Scale (GQS) and DISCERN scores were used to analyze the collected data.

RESULTS

A total of 600 posts were initially evaluated, of which only 418 posts (69.67%) met the inclusion criteria. Images (79.7%) were the most common type of post. Hospitals (31.34%) and survivors/patients (18.9%) were the most common uploaders. There was a statistically significant difference in the quality (GQS) of posts uploaded by doctors, hospitals, healthcare organizations, patient survivors, and others (p <0.001).  Conclusions: There is a significant difference in the quality of posts uploaded by healthcare organizations compared to other groups. Government agencies and medical organizations impose tougher rules on the quality and trustworthiness of the type of healthcare-related information transmitted in order to minimize the distribution of low-quality and unreliable information.

A Study of Global Quality Scale and Reliability Scores for Chest Pain: An Instagram-Post Analysis

INTRODUCTION

Utilized in the healthcare sector, social media offers numerous benefits. However, its drawbacks encompass the variable quality of unregulated and unsupervised content. Thus, we aimed to evaluate the information in content related to chest pain found across Instagram and analyze the quality and reliability of chest pain-related content via Instagram posts.

METHODOLOGY

Instagram posts with content related to chest pain were analyzed with the help of a structured questionnaire that included the Global Quality Scale (GQS) and DISCERN score (DS). To collect Instagram posts, several distinct hashtags were employed: #chestpain, #chestpains, #angina, #anginatreatment, #heartattack, #heartattacksurvivor, #heartattackprevention.

RESULTS

A total of 262 posts were included, of which 29.7% of the total posts (n=78) contained information that describes the etiology of the disease. 27.8% of the total posts (n = 73) enclosed promotional content. Posts were found to be uploaded by doctors (18.7%), hospitals (15.6%), patients (17.9%), dieticians (11.1%), healthcare organizations (9.2%), and others (27.5%). Both Global Quality and DISCERN scores were statistically significant with a p-value of 0.001.

CONCLUSIONS

The findings of this study revealed that most of the Instagram content on chest pain posted via physicians were highly reliable and had a better global quality score. Information regarding various causes, symptoms and preventive measures on Instagram can be considered as an acceptable source for patients to surf on. A major limitation is that only English content was analyzed. In the future, the use of higher quality posts produced by healthcare professionals could potentially contribute to enhancing patient education via Instagram.

Ketogenic diet: Assessing YouTube video information using quality, reliability, and text analytics methods

OBJECTIVE

Patients and the general audience refer social media platforms, such as YouTube, to learn and apply contemporary dietary methods. It is difficult for users to analyze the correctness and quality of information available on open platforms. Using scientific evaluation, this study assessed the quality, reliability, and content of YouTube videos on ketogenic diet (KD).

METHODS

Three experienced medical practitioners reviewed and evaluated 95 videos. The quality and reliability of the videos were assessed using the quality criteria for consumer health information and the global quality scale (GQS). Topic modeling and sentiment analysis were employed to determine the dominant themes and polarity of the information.

RESULTS

Three types of publishers (doctors, educational institutions, and influencers) were identified for the study. The mean length of videos posted by doctors was high at 42.24 min. The reliability and quality scores ranging from 0 (low) to 5 (high) had an average of 3.08 ± 1.14 and 3.18 ± 1.18, respectively, for sampled videos. One-way analysis of variance reveals significant differences in DISCERN and GQS scores among doctors, educational institutions, and influencers. Topic discovery identified four themes: keto versus glucose, diabetes, KD food, and major chronic diseases. Sentiment analysis reveals positive content polarity, some content shared by doctors had a neutral sentiment.

CONCLUSION

Content creators should augment the content by citing medical information and terminology. Viewers relied more on doctors for information related to KD. The aesthetic quality is high for all types of publishers. Publishers could focus on the discovered themes to create more content. Publishers should produce high-quality videos by improving esthetics (to increase engagement), and reliable medical information (to increase impact).

Use of YouTube by academic medical centres during the COVID-19 pandemic: an observational study in Taiwan

OBJECTIVES

YouTube has been of immense importance in conveying essential information on COVID-19 and promoting the latest healthcare policies during the outbreak. However, there have been few studies that have focused on how healthcare organisations have used YouTube to communicate with the public and increase their awareness during the pandemic, as well as its effectiveness.

DESIGN

A nationwide observational study.

SETTINGS

We analysed all YouTube video posts culled from the official accounts of all medical centres in Taiwan from December 2019 to August 2021.

PARTICIPANTS

All YouTube videos were categorised as either COVID-19 or non-COVID-19 related. The COVID-19-related videos were divided into five categories, and detailed metrics for each video were recorded. For comparison, we also surveyed all YouTube video posts placed by the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Taiwan Centers for Disease Control (TCDC).

RESULTS

We analysed official YouTube channels from 17 academic medical centres, involving a total of 943 videos. We found a relationship between the quantity of YouTube videos uploaded by the TCDC and the trend of confirmed cases (Pearson's correlation coefficient was 0.25, p=0.02). Data from private hospitals revealed that they posted more COVID-19 videos (103 vs 56) when compared with public hospitals. In addition, multivariate linear regression showed that more 'likes' (estimate 41.1, 95% CI 38.8 to 43.5) and longer lengths (estimate 10 800, 95% CI 6968.0 to 14 632.0) of COVID-19-related videos correlated significantly with an increased number of 'views'.

CONCLUSIONS

This nationwide observational study, performed in Taiwan, demonstrates well the trend and effectiveness of academic medical centres in promoting sound healthcare advice regarding COVID-19 through YouTube due to the channel's easy accessibility and usability.

The Evaluation of YouTube™ Videos Pertaining to Intraoperative Anaesthesia Awareness: A Reliability and Quality Analysis

Aim The objective of this study was to evaluate the reliability and quality of YouTube™ (Google, Inc., Mountain View, CA) videos pertaining to anaesthesia awareness. Methods We evaluated the most commonly viewed 100 videos pertaining to anaesthesia awareness. The YouTube™ videos' image type, qualification of the uploaders, video content, video length in minutes, upload time, time since upload, total view count, daily view count and comment and like counts were recorded. The quality of the YouTube™ videos was evaluated using the Global Quality Scale (GQS), and the reliability was determined using the modified DISCERN scale. Results Of all videos, 34 (34%) were uploaded directly by physicians, 16 (16%) by patients, 14 (14%) by health channels, 13 (13%) by TV shows and 23 (23%) by others. The mean video length was 11.48±11.96 minutes. The average DISCERN score was 4.47±0.58 in the professional and 3.28±0.65 in the non-professional video group (p<0.001). The mean GQS score was 4.47±0.52 in the professional and 3.35±0.67 in the non-professional video group (p<0.001). Conclusion The results of this study indicate that a significant portion of the YouTube™ videos pertaining to anaesthesia awareness were uploaded directly by physicians or by health channels. Physicians and professional health institutions should be promoted to provide accurate and more reliable videos to direct patients to the right solutions for their problems. YouTube™ videos should be subjected to supervision before they can be publicly viewed.

Are YouTube Videos a Useful and Reliable Source of Information for Patients with Temporomandibular Joint Disorders?

Counseling is considered a first-line conservative therapy with respect to temporomandibular joint disorders (TMJD). Nowadays, 50 to 80% of patients acquire health information from the internet before turning to professionals. The purpose of this study has been to investigate the quality of information about TMJD that patients can obtain from YouTube. A YouTube.com search was conducted using the terms "temporomandibular joint disorder"; "limited movement of the mandible"; and "mandibular joint pain". The videos identified were assessed independently by two panels of three professional and lay reviewers with HONcode, modified DISCERN (MD) and the global quality scale (GQS). A total of 106 videos were included. The professional reviewers reported a mean HONcode score of 4.148 ± 1.314 and a mean MD score of 2.519 ± 1.267, testifying to a modest general quality of the videos. The mean GQS score was 2.987 ± 1.012 for the professional and 3.469 ± 0.891 for the lay reviewers (p < 0.001). The correlations between the ratings were significant between the reviewers within the same group but not between the two groups. The presence of animations significantly influenced the GQS score expressed by the lay reviewers (p = 0.011) but not that of the professionals (p = 0.640). The quality of the information on TMJD on YouTube is generally of poor quality. Healthcare systems and professionals should be prepared to correct misinformation and build trusting relationships with patients which are based on quality counseling. Similarly, academic institutions should produce quality content that leads patients with TMJD toward a correct diagnostic-therapeutic process.

The contribution of laparoscopic distal pancreatectomy videos on YouTube to the learning curve in the COVID-19 pandemic

There is no standardization in videos uploaded to Youtube. Were the videos capable of contributing to adequate technical quality and surgical training? We are aiming to answer these questions in this paper. It is a cross-sectional study. In January 2022, we searched the Youtube platform using the keyword "distal pancreatectomy." The substantiality, transparency, reliability, quality, popularity and educational values of the video content were evaluated after exclusion criteria. These parameters were evaluated using we the modified Journal of American Medical Association benchmark criteria, Global Quality Score (GQS), Video Power Index, modified laparoscopic pancreatectomy scoring system. The videos uploaded after the pandemic had a statistically significant higher GQS score (P < .001). Video Power Index, like GQS, had a statistically significant difference before and after the pandemic. (P = .046). There was no significant difference in the evaluation of the reliability and substantiality. Until the development of Youtube videos is completed, peer-reviewed, more reliable and content-rich online education platforms should be preferred in the first place. Care should be taken to watch selected videos on Youtube videos.