BACKGROUND
Physical activity during childhood is very important. However, the lack of exercise among children and adolescents is currently becoming a global reality. Moreover, following the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, the increase in time spent at home has led to qualitative changes such as home exercise such as YouTube contents.
OBJECTIVE
To conduct qualitative assessments for YouTube-based exercise educational programs as video content and exercise education programs.
METHODS
Python-based video data crawling of YouTube using the keywords “children + exercise,” “kid + exercise,” “child + physical activity,” and “kid + physical activity” was performed on November 27, 2023. Duplicate videos, non-English videos, videos older than 5 years as of the search date, videos with playtime <60 s or >30 min, and videos judged by the researcher as irrelevant were excluded. Basic characteristics of video contents were collected, and video popularity-related parameters, including video power index, qualitative analysis of video contents (m-DISCERN, GQS), and qualitative analysis of exercise programs (i-CONTENT, CONTENT, CERT) were assessed.
RESULTS
Finally, 126 of 2,936 videos were selected. The proportion of videos uploaded by health professionals was only approximately 10%, and most of the videos covered aerobic and muscle strengthening exercises. Qualitative analysis for video content showed moderate to high quality, but only a few video contents satisfied the criteria of effective exercise program, especially in outcome measurement, presence of supervisor, target eligibility, adherence, and providing individualized exercise options. For correlation analysis between items of video contents and exercise program quality, only a few items among them showed a statistically significant correlation.
CONCLUSIONS
YouTube-based exercise educational content targeting children may be inadequate as an exercise education program, with no correlation with video popularity. Although an overall weak to moderate correlation was observed between the quality evaluation of exercise education and the video content, it was insufficient to evaluate the quality of the exercise program using the video quality assessment tools.
CLINICALTRIAL
Not applicable