A study on effectiveness of video assisted counselling in establishing and sustaining appropriate breast feeding practices

Educational Features of YouTube Videos Depicting Breastfeeding: Quality, Utility, and Reliability Analysis

Objective: In this study, we aimed to evaluate the quality, reliability, and utility of breastfeeding videos on YouTube. Materials and Methods: We conducted a YouTube search with the keyword "breastfeeding education" and limited our search results to the first 200 videos. After exclusion criteria, 165 videos were investigated. The viewer parameters including likes, dislikes, the total number of views, comments, and source of the videos were evaluated. The educational content of the videos was evaluated with the Global Quality Score. In addition, the popularity of the videos was assessed with the video power index (VPI). Upload sources were categorized as the academic institutions and individual users. Results: There were 134 (81.2%) videos in group 1 (poor and suboptimal quality videos) and 31 (18.8%) videos in group 2 (good and excellent quality videos). The mean number of views, likes, and comments were 96.212 ± 198.445, 241.2 ± 310.2, and 45.3 ± 67.9, respectively, in group 1, and 203.057 ± 388.722, 474.1 ± 560.6, and 63.6 ± 98, respectively, in group 2. Comparing both groups, the length of good-excellent videos was longer than poor-suboptimal videos. There were no differences between groups based on number of comments and number of dislikes. In addition, VPI values in group 2 were statistically higher than those in group 1 (p < 0.001). Conclusions: Only ∼18.8% of YouTube videos presenting breastfeeding education were good or excellent. YouTube videos depicting breastfeeding were a limited source for the patients.