A Cross-Sectional Study Analyzing the Quality of YouTube Videos as a Source of Patient Education for Treatments on Psoriasis

Abstract

Background: YouTube is currently the second most popular website in the world, with over 1 billion hours watched each day. Unlike peer-reviewed journals, there is no process to ensure the quality of YouTube videos that cover medical and treatment information, which could lead to patient misinformation. Objective: We set out to use the DISCERN instrument, which has previously been used in studies to assess the quality of consumer health information regarding treatment choices, to systematically evaluate the quality of the information. Methods: A YouTube search was performed on April 12, 2020, using the keyword “psoriasis treatments.” Since 90% of YouTube users do not view past the first 30 videos, only the first 30 results were selected. Non-English videos, advertisements, and videos that were too specific for the search criteria entered were excluded. Results: The average total DISCERN score was 38.3, which categorizes the videos overall as “poor” quality of content. There was a statistically significant difference in total DISCERN scores between the videos created by patients and those created by hospital/physician sources ( P < .015), with hospital-/physician-made videos scoring higher. However, regardless of the source of the video, there were still significant shortcomings in all the videos assessed. Conclusion: We feel we have a responsibility and an opportunity as a specialty to provide high-quality information, with a specific focus on the areas identified by the DISCERN tool as lacking, to help guide patients on evidence-based therapeutic options.