Dissemination of Misinformative and Biased Information about Prostate Cancer on YouTube

Publication date: Available online 28 November 2018Source: European UrologyAuthor(s): Stacy Loeb, Shomik Sengupta, Mohit Butaney, Joseph N. Macaluso, Stefan W. Czarniecki, Rebecca Robbins, R. Scott Braithwaite, Lingshan Gao, Nataliya Byrne, Dawn Walter, Aisha LangfordAbstractYouTube is a social media platform with more than 1 billion users and>600 000 videos about prostate cancer. Two small studies examined the quality of prostate cancer videos on YouTube, but did not use validated instruments, examine user interactions, or characterize the spread of misinformation. We performed the largest, most comprehensive examination of prostate cancer information on YouTube to date, including the first 150 videos on screening and treatment. We used the validated DISCERN quality criteria for consumer health information and the Patient Education Materials Assessment Tool, and compared results for user engagement. The videos in our sample had up to 1.3 million views (average 45 223) and the overall quality of information was moderate. More videos described benefits (75%) than harms (53%), and only 50% promoted shared decision-making as recommended in current guidelines. Only 54% of the videos defined medical terms and few provided summaries or references. There was a significant negative correlation between scientific quality and viewer engagement (views/month p = 0.004; thumbs up/views p = 0.015). The comments section underneath some videos contained advertis...
Source: European Urology - Category: Urology & Nephrology Source Type: research