YouTube as a source of autism treatment information: A quality and reliability assessment

YouTube is a major source of health information for families seeking guidance on autism spectrum disorder (ASD), yet the reliability and educational value of treatment-related content remain uncertain. This cross-sectional study evaluated the quality, reliability, and credibility of ASD treatment videos on YouTube, providing a snapshot of the platform as of July 2023. A structured search yielded 114 eligible English-language videos. Two trained evaluators independently assessed each video using validated instruments: the DISCERN questionnaire (DISCERN) and the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) benchmark criteria for reliability, and the Global Quality Scale (GQS) for overall educational quality. Inter-rater reliability was acceptable to excellent across all tools (ICC = 0.516-0.801), permitting the use of combined scores. Overall, video quality was predominantly low to moderate. DISCERN scores indicated that only 14.0 % of videos were "Excellent," while 66.7 % fell within the Poor-to-Fair range. Similarly, only 24.6 % of videos were rated High quality on the GQS. JAMA scores were the lowest overall, with 71.1 % of content failing to meet basic standards of authorship, attribution, disclosure, or currency. Professionally produced content-particularly academic and specialist videos-consistently outperformed family-, patient-, and other non-health-related sources across all measures. Video duration demonstrated positive associations with quality and reliability, whereas higher comment counts were negatively correlated with all scoring systems. Treatment category alone did not predict quality; instead, uploader identity and information structure were the primary determinants. These findings highlight significant variability and persistent gaps in the quality of ASD treatment information on YouTube. Increased clinician involvement, stronger visibility for evidence-based content, and targeted digital health literacy efforts are needed to support families in navigating online ASD resources.