Is the YouTube Sharing site a Useful Source of Information about Echocardiography?

Abstract

Purpose/Aim: YouTube, which reaches more and more users every day with auditory and visual interaction, is becoming an easily accessible and increasingly popular source of information on health-related issues. In our study, the scientific content and quality of the Turkish language videos related to echocardiography were evaluated.

Methods: 453 videos obtained as a result of a YouTube search with the keyword ‘echocardiography’ in July 2020 were evaluated. 54 videos were included in the study after the exclusion criteria. Videos were evaluated with Discern, Content, and Global Quality
Scores (GQS).

Results: The median video duration was 190 seconds (95% CI: 122-252). The median number of views was 1312, and the number of likes was 12. The videos had a power index of 165.65 and a Popularity score of 4.2. Discern, GQS, and content scores found that videos scored an average of 3 out of all three scores. Study videos were evaluated in 2 groups, 38 in the ‘Useful’ Group and 16 videos in the ‘Unuseful’ group. Video duration and popularity were statistically significantly higher in the ‘Useful’ Group. No significant difference was found in terms of professional sharing in the’ useful ‘and’ unuseful ' groups. In the correlation
analysis, there was a strong positive correlation between the number of views and likes and between likes and popularity. It was found that there was a moderate positive correlation between Video duration and variables of: likes, Discern score and Power Index. It was found that the number of views and likes did not correlate significantly with quality and content scores.

Conclusion: These results show that YouTube has the potential to be an important tool for timely sharing and disseminating health-related information, both as a video repository function and as a social network interface with which users can interact. Although quality posts tend to increase day by day, professional users in the field of health should be encouraged to share videos in medical broadcast quality more frequently.