Content and quality of YouTube regarding women’s health: a scoping review

Abstract

Purpose: This scoping review investigated the content and quality of YouTube videos on women’s health.Methods: A literature search of the Cochrane Library, PubMed, Embase, CINAHL, ERIC, and RISS databases was performed using the keywords “(‘youtube’/exp OR youtube OR ‘social media’/exp OR ‘social media’ OR ((‘social’/exp OR social) AND (‘media’/exp OR media))) AND (‘female health care’ OR ((‘female’/exp OR female) AND (‘health’/exp OR health) AND (‘care’/exp OR care)))” from February 21 to 27, 2023. Peer-reviewed analytic studies in English or Korean that focused on women’s health using YouTube were included.Results: The review identified 21 articles that covered various themes related to women’s health, such as breast cancer, urinary disease, sexual health, pelvic organ prolapse, the human papillomavirus vaccine, Papanikolaou smears, contraception, women’s health information during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, obstetric epidural anesthesia, and placenta accreta. However, the overall quality of the content was low, inaccurate, unreliable, and misleading.Conclusion: This scoping review demonstrated that YouTube videos on women’s health covered diverse topics, but the quality of the content needed improvement. More reliable and high-quality videos produced by academic institutes and healthcare professionals specializing in women’s health are needed for social media to be usable as a reliable source of women’s health information. The high number of views and shares received by the videos underscores the importance of providing accurate and reliable information on women’s health.

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