Evaluation of YouTube Videos for Information and Education on Amblyopia

Abstract

Background: YouTube is a popular social media platform accessed by people to obtain relevant health and disease-related information. The purpose of this study was to evaluate YouTube videos as a source of information on amblyopia. Material and Methods: In this prospective, cross-sectional study a YouTube search was conducted using three keywords, ‘Lazy eye’, ‘amblyopia’ and ‘Lazy eye treatment’ on 26th January, 2022. Video quality assessment was done using Modified DISCERN (mDISCERN), Global Quality Score and the Health on the Net Foundation Code of Conduct (HONcode) scale. Video content was analysed as a health professional and non-health professional, video length, release date, daily view count and Video Power Index. The relationship between the groups and video quality was evaluated. Results: Of the 300 initial videos investigated for the study, 219 videos met the inclusion criteria and were subjected to statistical analysis. Nearly 50% of videos contained content related to medical education. More than half of the videos analysed (130; 59.36%) were uploaded by healthcare professionals (HCPs). The mDISCERN mean ± SD score for the videos was 2.65 ± 1.24, for the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) scoring was 2.37 ± 1.02 and for the HONcode was 3.72 ± 1.75. All scoring systems were better for HCPs as compared with non-healthcare professionals (NHCPs). Conclusion: A wide variety of information about amblyopia is available on YouTube™. Videos uploaded by NHCP had suboptimal flow as well as information of limited use to patients.