Objectives: The internet has become one of the most important resources for the general population when searching for healthcare information. However, the information available is not always suitable for all readers because of its difficult readability. We sought to assess the readability of online information regarding the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and establish whether they follow the patient educational information reading level recommendations. Study design: This is a cross-sectional study. Methods: We searched five key terms on Google and the first 30 results from each of the searches were considered for analysis. Five validated readability tests were utilized to establish the reading level for each article. Results: Of the 150 gathered articles, 61 met the inclusion criteria and were evaluated. None (0%) of the articles met the recommended 5th to 6th grade reading level (of an 11-12-year-old). The mean readability scores were Flesch Reading Ease 44.14, Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level 12.04, Gunning-Fog Index 14.27, Simple Measure of Gobbledygook SMOG Index 10.71, and Coleman-Liau Index 12.69. Conclusions: Online educational articles on COVID-19 provide information too difficult to read for the general population. The readability of articles regarding COVID-19 and other diseases needs to improve so that the general population may understand health information better and may respond adequately to protect themselves and limit the spread of infection.
Summary
YouTube is the second most popular website in the world and is increasingly being used as a platform for disseminating health information. Our aim was to evaluate the content‐quality and audience engagement of YouTube videos pertaining to the SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome)‐CoV‐2 virus which causes the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID‐19), during the early phase of the pandemic. We chose the first 30 videos for seven different search phrases: “2019 nCoV,” “SARS CoV‐2,” “COVID‐19 virus,” “coronavirus treatment,” “coronavirus explained,” “what is the coronavirus” and “coronavirus information.” Video contents were evaluated by two independent medical students with more than 5 years of experience using the DISCERN instrument. Qualitative data, quantitative data and upload source for each video was noted for a quality and audience engagement analysis. Out of the total 210 videos, 137 met our inclusion criteria and were evaluated. The mean DISCERN score was 31.33 out of 75 possible points, which indicates that the quality of YouTube videos on COVID‐19 is currently poor. There was excellent reliability between the two raters (intraclass correlation coefficient = 0.96). 55% of the videos discussed prevention, 49% discussed symptoms and 46% discussed the spread of the virus. Most of the videos were uploaded by news channels (50%) and education channels (40%). The quality of YouTube videos on SARS‐CoV‐2 and COVID‐19 is poor, however, we have listed the top‐quality videos in our article as they may be effective tools for patient education during the pandemic.
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