This study aimed to evaluate the usefulness of YouTube videos on the treatment of amblyopia, where parent education is important for treatment compliance and success. A YouTube search was made in March 2020 for amblyopia treatment yielding 534 videos. They extracted 200 videos listed within the first 10 search pages. Multi-part videos (n=4) were analysed as one. Duplicates (n=35) were evaluated once. They excluded irrelevant videos (n=32), non-English (n=9) and those without audio (n=4). Patient experience (n=30) and opinion videos were excluded. Videos were classified as useful or misleading by two independent ophthalmologists. Video reliability was scored by a modified 5-point DIACERN tool and rated on a 5-point Global Quality Score (education tool). Video comprehensiveness was evaluated with a 5-point scale to assess amblyopia treatment instructions. In total 75 videos were excluded and a total of 87 videos were included. Mean video length was 13808.32 ±34049.59, average duration on YouTube was 1198.12 ±961.68 and mean views per day were 16.57 ±66.43. Forty-two videos explained amblyopia treatment for children, 12 explained treatment for adults and 26 for both. Seven did not specify age. Fifty were classed as useful and 32 as misleading. Fifty percent were uploaded by medical advertisement and for-profit companies, and 70% of misleading videos belonged to these sources. The authors advise universities, non-profit professional organisations and health care websites to upload videos to YouTube that are reliable, of quality and comprehensible.
Use of YouTube videos in providing amblyopia treatment information
Reviewed by Fiona Rowe
The assessment of YouTube videos as a source of information for amblyopia treatment.
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Fiona Rowe (Prof)
Institute of Population Health, University of Liverpool, UK.
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