Assessment of the Quality, Understandability, and Reliability of YouTube Videos as a Source of Information on Basal Cell Carcinoma: Web-Based Analysis

Theresa Steeb; Lydia Reinhardt; Matthias Harlaß; Markus Vincent Heppt; Friedegund Meier; Carola Berking

doi:10.2196/29581

Assessment of the Quality, Understandability, and Reliability of YouTube Videos as a Source of Information on Basal Cell Carcinoma: Web-Based Analysis

JMIR Cancer. 2022 Mar 11;8(1):e29581. doi: 10.2196/29581.

Authors

Theresa Steeb^{1

2}, Lydia Reinhardt³, Matthias Harlaß^{1

2}, Markus Vincent Heppt^{1

2}, Friedegund Meier³, Carola Berking^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Dermatology, Universitätsklinikum Erlangen, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany.
² Comprehensive Cancer Center Erlangen - Europäische Metropolregion Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany.
³ Department of Dermatology, University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany.

PMID: 35275067
PMCID: PMC8956995
DOI: 10.2196/29581

Abstract

Background: Patients with skin cancer increasingly watch online videos to acquire disease-related information. Until now, no scientific evaluation of the quality of videos available for German-speaking patients with basal cell carcinoma (BCC) has been performed.

Objective: In this study, we aimed to identify and evaluate videos about BCC provided on YouTube.

Methods: A video search on YouTube was conducted in July 2020, using German BCC-related keywords (eg, "Basalzellkarzinom," "Basaliom," "weißer hautkrebs," and "heller hautkrebs"). The first three pages (ie, 60 videos) were searched by two independent researchers for each keyword. Two authors evaluated videos that met the predefined eligibility criteria. The quality of the information of the videos was evaluated using the DISCERN tool and the Global Quality Scale (GQS). The understandability and actionability were assessed with the Patient Education Materials Assessment Tool for Audiovisual Materials (PEMAT-A/V). The reliability was assessed with the JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association) criteria score. Subgroup differences were identified using the Kruskal-Wallis test.

Results: A total of 41 videos were included in the evaluation. The mean assessment scores were as follows: DISCERN, 3.3 (SD 0.80); GQS, 3.8 (SD 1.1); JAMA, 27.74% (SD 22.1%); understandability, 70.8% (SD 13.3%); and actionability, 45.9% (SD 43.7%). These values indicated that the videos were of medium to good quality and had good understandability, low actionability, and poor reliability. The quality of videos provided by health professionals was significantly higher than that of videos provided by laypersons.

Conclusions: Optimization of health-related videos about BCC is desirable. In particular, adaptation to reliability criteria is necessary to support patient education and increase transparency.

Keywords: YouTube; basal cell carcinoma; information; internet; patient education; quality; reliability; shared decision-making; videos.

©Theresa Steeb, Lydia Reinhardt, Matthias Harlaß, Markus Vincent Heppt, Friedegund Meier, Carola Berking. Originally published in JMIR Cancer (https://cancer.jmir.org), 11.03.2022.