Radiotherapy or Surgery? Comparative, Qualitative Assessment of Online Patient Education Materials on Prostate Cancer

Abstract

As multiple different treatment options are available for prostate cancer (PCa) and YouTube is commonly used as a source for medical information, we performed a systematic and comparative assessment of available videos guiding patients on their choice for the optimal treatment. An independent search for surgical therapy or radiotherapy of PCa on YouTube was performed and the 40 most viewed videos of both groups were analyzed. The validated DISCERN questionnaire and PEMAT were utilized to evaluate their quality and misinformation. The median overall quality of the videos was found to be low for surgery videos, while radiotherapy videos results reached a moderate quality. The median PEMAT understandability score was 60% (range 0–100%) for radiotherapy and 75% (range 40–100) for surgery videos. The radiotherapy videos contained less misinformation and were judged to be of higher quality. Summarized, the majority of the provided videos offer insufficient quality of content and are potentially subject to commercial bias without reports on possible conflict of interest. Thus, most of available videos on YouTube informing PCa patients about possible treatment methods are not suited for a balanced patient education or as a basis for the patient’s decision.

Evaluating YouTube as a Source of Education for Patients Undergoing Surgery

“…2). eTable 6, Supplemental Digital Content 1, http://links.lww.com/SLA/E605 denotes individual study characteristics 19–74 …”

Characterizing the most Popular Tinnitus Inquiries: Is Tinnitus Incidence on the Rise Since COVID-19?

“…All 500 PAAs were categorized by the affiliation of the website referenced to answer each question (academic, industry, government, private) similar to previous reports (18)(19)(20)(21). A quality assessment of websites associated with the top 25 most popular PAAs was undertaken using the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) benchmark criteria, in accordance with the existing literature (19,22,23). Measures of quality included authorship, attribution, currency, and disclosure.…”

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“…All 250 PAAs were categorized by affiliation type (Academic, Commercial, Government, Medical Practice, Single Surgeon, Personal, Social Media) similar to prior reports (Supporting Information: Table S1). 3,7,10,11 Websites associated with the top 20 most popular PAAs were assessed using JAMA benchmark criteria, 11 in accordance with the existing literature. 7,[12][13][14][15] Quality assessment using JAMA criteria is based on authorship, attribution, currency, and disclosure.…”

“…The impact and quality of online patient education materials (PEMs) retrieved from sources such as Google and YouTube have since been thoroughly investigated in the cancer patient population 6–10 . However, little is known about the specific topics of patient interest and the nature of the information provided.…”

“…3 The impact and quality of online patient education materials (PEMs) retrieved from sources such as Google and YouTube have since been thoroughly investigated in the cancer patient population. [6][7][8][9][10] However, little is known about the specific topics of patient interest and the nature of the information provided. No prior study has systematically investigated the most popular questions asked by patients or the quality of the sources to which such inquiries would be directed.…”