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. 2022 Jul 11:10:925691.
doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2022.925691. eCollection 2022.

Does YouTube Provide Qualified Patient Education Videos About Atrial Fibrillation?

Chong Luo  1 , Longrong Bian  1 , Lijie Jiang  1 , Weitao Liang  1 , Zhong Wu  1
Affiliations

Does YouTube Provide Qualified Patient Education Videos About Atrial Fibrillation?

Chong Luo et al. Front Public Health. .

Abstract

Objective: Patients utilize the internet as a pathway to acquire knowledge of specific diseases. However, there are limited oversight and review mechanisms to ensure the authenticity of online information. This study aimed to evaluate the quality of video-based resources used to obtain information about atrial fibrillation (AF).

Methods: Multiple AF-specific keywords were used to perform a systematic search of YouTube. Two independent reviewers reviewed the top 50 results of each keyword search. To record data, the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) score, modified DISCERN score, AF-specific score (AFSS), and essential score (Escore) were used. The Kruskal-Wallis test was used for intergroup comparisons.

Results: A total of 74 videos that met the inclusion criteria were included in the analysis. In terms of video quality, 68% were poor, 19% were moderate, and 13% were exceptional. Videos submitted by publishers with a medical background were much less popular (p < 0.05) than those submitted by publishers without a medical background. The video quality did not differ among those included in this study.

Conclusions: Some videos on YouTube that are of real value are not as popular as those with low-quality content submitted by news agencies/media publishers. Furthermore, videos submitted by those with a medical background do not receive as much attention as others. It is important to acknowledge that video platforms should establish content and quality auditing mechanisms for videos. Furthermore, publishers should ensure that viewers receive accurate and complete knowledge and use more concise and accessible images or animations that are tailored to the audience.

Keywords: We media; YouTube; atrial fibrillation; official account; patient education; physician.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flowchart demonstrating the process of video selection.
Figure 2
Figure 2
(A) Escore, Atrial Fibrillation Specific Score (AFSS), JAMA, DISCERN values categorized by video publisher type. (B) Relationship between views and video duration. (C) Relationship between views and publisher type. (D) Relationship between views and video quality.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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