Healthcare Professionals Produce Higher Quality Content for Shoulder Dislocation on TikTok

TikTok has become an increasingly popular source of health information. This study aimed to assess the quality and content of TikTok videos discussing glenohumeral dislocation. The hypothesis being that videos produced by healthcare professionals (HCPs) would be superior.

This cross-sectional study used the keyword "shoulder dislocation" to retrieve videos, and the first 173 videos found were reviewed. Inclusion criteria was (1) English language, and exclusion criteria were (1) video following a trend, (2) no association with shoulder dislocation, and (3) being no longer available at the time of the analysis. Videos were classified into two groups: those by general users and those by HCPs. Basic information was extracted, and the content classified by two independent raters into six types: definition, signs/symptoms, risk factors/prevention, evaluation, management, and outcome. The same raters assessed the quality of the information presented with the validated DISCERN instrument. Any disagreements were resolved by a third rater. Pearson correlation and nonparametric Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney tests were used for statistical analysis.

One hundred two of the 173 videos reviewed met the inclusion criteria; 70 from general users and 32 from HCPs. The most discussed topic was management (73), while definition (15) was the least discussed. A significant difference was observed in DISCERN score between videos by HCPs (28.78 ± 7.16) and general users (19.00 ± 5.99; P < 0.01).

Videos by HCPs were of higher quality than those by general users, although overall content quality was poor.