YouTube as a source of patient information on external cephalic version:
cross sectional study
Abstract
Objective The objective of this study was to investigate the
available information on YouTube about External Cephalic Version (ECV)
and assess the quality and usefulness. Study design A YouTube
search was performed with five search terms, selecting the first 35
results. A quality assessment scale was developed to quantify the
accuracy of medical information of each video. Main outcome measure was
usefulness score. The videos ware divided into useful, slightly useful
and not useful. Source of upload was divided into five subcategories,
and medical or non-medical. Secondary outcomes included: audience
engagement, misinformation and encouraging or discouraging ECV.
Results 70 videos were analysed, only 14.3% was defined as
useful. Every useful video was uploaded by educational channels or
health care professionals, and 80% was from a medical source. Over half
of the not useful videos were uploaded by childbirth attendants and
vloggers. Childbirth attendants scored highest on audience engagement.
The presence of misinformation was low throughout all groups. Two thirds
of the vloggers encouraged ECV to their viewers. Conclusion A
minor percentage of videos on ECV on YouTube is considered useful.
Vloggers often encouraged their audience to opt for ECV. Groups with a
higher audience engagement, had a lower usefulness score compared to the
groups with a lower audience engagement but a higher usefulness score.
Sources from medically accurate videos should cooperate with sources
with a high audience engagement to contribute to the uptake of ECV by
creating more awareness and a positive attitude and thereby lowering the
chance for a caesarean delivery because of term breech.