YouTube: Searching for answers about breast cancer

Abstract

Introduction: Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women, affecting approximately 1 in 8 women worldwide. Additionally, it is either the most or second-most lethal cancer depending on ethnicity. Many women and concerned family members turn to the internet for information regarding the signs, symptoms, diagnosis and treatment of this life-altering condition. We sought to objectively evaluate the quality of the information available on YouTube concerning breast cancer. Methods: We searched YouTube for videos relating to breast cancer. We included videos that were less than 20 minutes in length, were in the top 200 for most views and were available in English, either subtitled or narrated. Videos were independently and blindly scored using a standardized scoring form. Possible scores ranged from negative infinity to 25.5 with one point being deducted for each misleading statement or claim. Results: After exclusions, 133 videos in our sample were evaluated. Out of a possible 25.5 points, the true mean was 3.90 with a standard deviation of 1.38. There were only 30 videos (22.5%) that scored more than 7 points. 12 (9.0%) videos scored 0 points or fewer. 12 (9.0%) of the videos in our sample contained at least one misleading statement with 9 of those contained multiple misleading statements with some videos having up to 10 such statements. Conclusion: While YouTube is an important source of information regarding breast cancer, few videos contain a significant amount of quality information and many of the videos contain false or misleading statements. In an area where patients are often scared and searching for answers, there is a significant need for more high-quality videos to educate patients and dispel myths and pseudoscience.

Can YouTube videos concerning the esophagogastroduodenoscopy experience be a reliable and satisfactory source of information for patient education in developing countries? A cross-sectional study from Turkey

“…The total duration of the 95 videos evaluated was 908.58 minutes, and they had more than 17 million views. While evaluating the information quality of YouTube videos about EGD, we used a method similar to those employed in previous studies examining videos on various diseases and procedures [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16]. As a result of the general analysis, we found that the videos had been mostly uploaded to YouTube by universities/physicians group (36%), and this group had the highest reliability, comprehensiveness, and quality.…”

“…In particular, patients with chronic diseases often rely on evidence based on the internet to manage their conditions. Individuals' health-related online searches should rely upon educative and instructive internet knowledge, since research surveys have revealed that 75% of such patients are affected by information acquired from online health searches in making decisions concerning the treatment of their condition [6]. However, the veracity and quality of the information available on this platform has been a concern since it offers uncontrollable access to both high-and low-quality information, with minimal guidelines and interventions regulating the content of the videos uploaded.…”

“…Although many previous studies on chronic diseases, self-educational skills and invasive procedures have evaluated the content and quality of information in YouTube videos [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16], there is a lack of data evaluating the quality and content of educational videos on YouTube about EGD performance as a source of patient information. Therefore, we aimed to investigate the quality of content regarding YouTube EGD videos and determine whether this platform is a useful source for the education of patients especially whose sole information source is social media.…”

Accuracy and Quality of YouTube Videos as a Source of Information on Vitiligo

“… 18 Additionally, videos longer than twenty (20) minutes were excluded as they are not representative of the preferences of an average viewer. 19 The uploading channel and the number of likes, dislikes, and comments were recorded for each video. Viewer’s engagement ratio was calculated by dividing the total number of likes, dislikes, and comments by the number of views.…”

Avaliação da qualidade dos vídeos sobre câncer de mama mais visualizados no YouTube: relevância para promoção da saúde da mulher

“…Os motivos que fazem, ou fizeram, as pessoas assistirem aos vídeos e os compartilharem não foram aqui investigados, mas independentemente disso, o que chama a atenção é a popularidade, tendo alguns deles atingindo mais de 50 mil visualizações. O público-alvo, normalmente mulheres, reconhecidamente, é bastante ativo nas redes sociais, especialmente na busca de informações sobre saúde (BRACHTENBACH et al, 2020).…”