YouTube as a source of information on COVID-19 vaccination in rheumatic diseases

Abstract

As the most well-known and popular video-sharing platform around the world, YouTube is an influential tool for the dissemination of health-related information. In addition, considering the increase in obtaining information from internet-based sources in pandemic conditions, YouTube has become more important in the presentation of information related to COVID-19. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate videos related to COVID-19 vaccination in rheumatic diseases (RD) on YouTube. In this descriptive study, 334 video URLs listed with six search terms were recorded (26 July 2021). Three quality groups (high, intermediate, and low) were created based on the Global Quality Scores (GQS). Video sources were identified and various video parameters were compared between the quality groups. Following the implementation of the exclusion criteria, 56 videos remained for further analysis; of which 37 (66.07%) were evaluated as high quality, 12 (21.42%) as intermediate quality, and 7 (12.51%) as low quality. No significant difference was determined between the quality groups in per day values of views, likes, dislikes, and comments. The sources of high-quality videos were pharmaceutical company ( n = 1; 100%), pharmacist ( n = 1; 100%), society-organization ( n = 17; 85%), and academic ( n = 3; 75%). Although two-thirds of the videos were high quality, it should be kept in mind that intermediate and low-quality videos are also available. Users should not assume the quality of the videos based on the number of views, likes, dislikes, and comments, but should focus more on video sources.

A content analysis of the reliability and quality of Youtube videos as a source of information on health-related post-COVID pain

“…We conducted our study on YouTube because it is the leading video-sharing platform. Although there have been several studies on YouTube videos about COVID-19 and long COVID-19, to the best of our knowledge, there has been no study on post-COVID pain, an important symptom of the disease that has a negative impact on the quality of life ( Chan et al, 2021 ; Jacques et al, 2022 ; Kocyigit & Akyol, 2021 ). Considering that pain is a major cause of disability and can last for up to 11 weeks after infection, disrupts patients’ quality of life, and causes them to stay home during that period and search for disease-related information online, it is important to screen YouTube videos on post-COVID pain and evaluate their reliability and quality ( Jacques et al, 2022 , Şahin et al, 2021 ).…”

“…Previous studies have shown that a significant number of internet users only view search results listed on the first three pages (60 videos in total, 20 on each page) ( Onder & Zengin, 2021 ; Rittberg, Dissanayake & Katz, 2016 ). Although YouTube has switched from page ranking to continuous listing, we based our search on the method used in similar studies and identified 60 videos for each search term ( Kocyigit & Akyol, 2021 ; Tolu et al, 2018 ). Video listing was done based on the number of views to evaluate videos with the greatest impact on society.…”

“…Videos were included in the evaluation if they were in English language, had audio, and were relevant to the subject. Duplicate videos, non-English-language videos, and videos with audio–video problems were excluded ( Kocyigit & Akyol, 2021 ).…”

“…Videos with a score of 4 and 5 are considered high quality, videos with a score of 3 are considered intermediate quality, and videos with a score of 1 and 2 are considered low quality. If the scores of the two authors did not match, a third researcher (VH) conducted the evaluation and his scoring was determined as the final score ( Kocyigit & Akyol, 2021 ).…”

Youtube as a Source of Information About Gonorrhea

“…The reliability of the video content and the quality of the videos are important issues at this point. Despite all its positive features, there are concerns about users accessing high-quality information on YouTube [11]. YouTube contains both high-quality informational videos and misleading videos [12].…”