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. 2023 Jun 23:3:e40802.
doi: 10.2196/40802.

Content Quality of YouTube Videos About Pain Management After Cesarean Birth: Content Analysis

Natalie A Squires  1 , Elizabeth Soyemi  2   3 , Lynn M Yee  3 , Eleanor M Birch  4 , Nevert Badreldin  3
Affiliations

Content Quality of YouTube Videos About Pain Management After Cesarean Birth: Content Analysis

Natalie A Squires et al. JMIR Infodemiology. .

Abstract

Background: YouTube is an increasingly common source of health information; however, the reliability and quality of the information are inadequately understood. Several studies have evaluated YouTube as a resource during pregnancy and found the available information to be of poor quality. Given the increasing attention to postpartum health and the importance of promoting safe opioid use after birth, YouTube may be a source of information for birthing individuals. However, little is known about the available information on YouTube regarding postpartum pain.

Objective: The purpose of this study is to systematically evaluate the quality of YouTube videos as an educational resource for postpartum cesarean pain management.

Methods: A systematic search of YouTube videos was conducted on June 25, 2021, using 36 postpartum cesarean pain management-related keywords, which were identified by clinical experts. The search replicated a default YouTube search via a public account. The first 60 results from each keyword search were reviewed, and unique videos were analyzed. An overall content score was developed based on prior literature and expert opinion to evaluate the video's relevance and comprehensiveness. The DISCERN instrument, a validated metric to assess consumer health information, was used to evaluate the reliability of video information. Videos with an overall content score of ≥5 and a DISCERN score of ≥39 were classified as high-quality health education resources. Descriptive analysis and intergroup comparisons by video source and quality were conducted.

Results: Of 73 unique videos, video sources included medical videos (n=36, 49%), followed by personal video blogs (vlogs; n=32, 44%), advertisements (n=3, 4%), and media (n=2, 3%). The average overall content score was 3.6 (SD 2.0) out of 9, and the average DISCERN score was 39.2 (SD 8.1) out of 75, indicating low comprehensiveness and fair information reliability, respectively. High-quality videos (n=22, 30%) most frequently addressed overall content regarding pain duration (22/22, 100%), pain types (20/22, 91%), return-to-activity instructions (19/22, 86%), and nonpharmacologic methods for pain control (19/22, 86%). There were differences in the overall content score (P=.02) by video source but not DISCERN score (P=.45). Personal vlogs had the highest overall content score at 4.0 (SD 2.1), followed by medical videos at 3.3 (SD 2.0). Longer video duration and a greater number of comments and likes were significantly correlated with the overall content score, whereas the number of video comments was inversely correlated with the DISCERN score.

Conclusions: Individuals seeking information from YouTube regarding postpartum cesarean pain management are likely to encounter videos that lack adequate comprehensiveness and reliability. Clinicians should counsel patients to exercise caution when using YouTube as a health information resource.

Keywords: C-section; YouTube; accuracy; cesarean; cesarean section; credibility; education resource; educational video; health education; health information; health video; information quality; internet; maternal; pain; patient education; postnatal; postpartum; social media; systematic search; web-based video.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of Interest: None declared.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
YouTube video selection regarding postcesarean pain management. The figure illustrates a flow diagram of the identification, selection, and exclusion of YouTube videos. The first 60 video titles for 36 unique search terms were collected for a total of 2160 videos. 73 videos were included for the final analysis.
Figure 2
Figure 2
YouTube video content inclusion by topic area. The figure illustrates the overall content score by topic area. The y-axis demonstrates the percentage of total videos covering each of the 9 total topic areas. (A) The percentage of videos covering each topic area from all videos. (B) The percentage of videos by quality designation covering each topic area.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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