Gender inequality in hands-only cardiopulmonary resuscitation videos on YouTube

Abstract

Background: Bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is performed at a significantly lower rate in women than in men. YouTube has a significant role in influencing the public’s perceptions about CPR due to its popularity. The aim of the study was to compare the availability, quality, and scientific accuracy of YouTube videos demonstrating hands-only CPR performed on men and woman recipient.Methods: Using a search term similar to hands-only CPR, YouTube was searched for videos in English. This study included the first 60 videos for each search term. All the videos meeting the inclusion criteria were viewed and classified according to gender of recipient of CPR. Views per day were calculated. Videos were scored for quality and scientific accuracy, using Global Quality Scale (GQS) score and comprehensiveness analysis respectively. Mean, standard deviation was calculated for all the variables. Independent t-tests were done to compare the mean values. A p value<0.05 was considered significant.Results: Only 12 (1.7%) videos demonstrated hands-only CPR performed on women as compared to 43 videos (6%) demonstrated in men. There was a statistically significant difference in GQS score, whereas, there was no statistically significant difference in viewer rate and comprehensiveness analysis score based upon the gender of recipient of CPR.Conclusions: The availability and quality of YouTube videos demonstrating hands-only CPR performed on men and women recipients differ significantly. There are limited numbers of videos available for demonstrations of CPR performed on women, and the majority of them are of poor quality and lack scientific accuracy.