Reliability and Quality of Online Patient Education Videos for Spina Bifida

There is a growing trend among patients and their families to seek medical information online. Among the world's most popular websites, YouTube is ranked second. Our aim was to assess the reliability and quality of YouTube videos on spina bifida.

Researchers searched the YouTube platform using 3 search keywords in February 2022. These were spina bifida, spina bifida treatment, and spina bifida surgery. The content of the first 35 videos for each search term was evaluated using the DISCERN scale. Two independent neurosurgeons with 6 years of experience in pediatric neurosurgery evaluated the content of the videos.

Of the total 105 videos, 58 met the inclusion criteria and were evaluated. Of these videos, 3 (6.5%) received a score between 3 and4. This suggests that the video is reliable but missing important information. Only one (2.1%) of the videos had a mean score of >4, which refers to a high-quality source of information. It has been found that the popularity of the video was not correlated with whether it was broadcasted by health professionals or whether it has surgical content. The correlation between video popularity and DISCERN score was not significant (P = 0.361/0.401 based on the number of views; P = 0.459/0.606 based on the number of likes).

Based on the results of this study, patients and their families will generally encounter low-quality educational content on YouTube when searching for information about spina bifida. Since videos on spina bifida are insufficient, we recommend to universities, hospitals, and academic societies publish reliable video education content to support and optimize patient education, in line with approved tools such as DISCERN.