In recent years, Internet tools such as YouTube have allowed users to create and share content and communicate through virtual networks. When we want to know how to do something or understand a concept we might very well head to YouTube. YouTube is an online public communication web site launched in December 2005. People can upload and share videos, as well as view videos and make comments on what they have watched or ask a question. Health information is one of the most searched topics on the web.(1) However, free and unregulated information carries a potential risk of misinformation. Anyone can publish and upload YouTube videos regardless of their qualifications or profession and because these videos are not peer reviewed, the correctness of the health information cannot be guaranteed. A study published by Haslam et al (2) in 2019 suggested that 70% of Canadians report using the internet to search for health information. The internet may be used to seek specific information for themselves or someone else on a disease, to self-diagnose and learn more about their current health condition, reduce anxiety and fears once they have been told they have a health condition and/or to find treatment options, funding resources and information on side effects of their drug therapy. In my experience many people try to diagnose themselves before they have gone to their doctor or had any tests. This is a favorable thing in that it might help you to know what questions to ask and improve communication with your doctor but it can also be unfavorable because your diagnosis might be wrong and you have experienced anxiety and worry which could have been avoided. In some circumstances, watching a video may empower the individual knowing they are not alone and overall this helps to increase their own comfort level and coping strategy.
When you search YouTube the most popular videos are the ones you see first. This doesn’t mean they are the best or have any evidence to support the information. I did a quick search of videos for self injection instructions of the insulin pen and one was about 2 minutes versus 6 minutes. The shorter video did not give enough information while the 6 minute video had a much better quality of information in my opinion. The duration of the video and completeness of the information is important.
So now we can ask ourselves are YouTube videos useful for helping us improve our knowledge about Diabetes Management? Unfortunately there is not one single answer but there have been some studies and reviews done on this topic which I will share with you today. After reviewing this literature, we can come up with a list of likes and dislikes that will give us with some basic knowledge to help in selecting an appropriate video.
A study authored by Gimenez-Perez et al(1) evaluated the usefulness of YouTube videos as an educative tool for type 2 diabetes management. Usefulness was defined as making reference to the 7 Self-Care Behaviours as adopted by the Association of Diabetes Care and Education Specialists(AADE7) Using search terms “diabetes diet” and “diabetes treatment” and after screening over two thousand videos they included 393 videos in their evaluation. The results tell us that 40% contained useful information; 25% contained misleading information and 42% classified as alternative medicine and these alternative medicine videos were less useful and more misleading. The study concluded that the probability of finding videos that relate to AADE7 self-care behaviours is below 50% and that the odds of finding misleading information is high.
Haslam et al (2) did a similar type of information gathering and the objective was to determine the potential value of YouTube videos as health decision aids for the public.Fifty-eight studies assessed the validity of videos on certain topics and 9 studies examined the effectiveness of videos in supporting decision making. The study determined that the majority of health-related YouTube videos lacked validity. But the article also wants to remind us that evidence-based videos do exist and can have the potential to be an effective option in supporting the public to make health decisions.
When you search for a video what characteristics do you look for or have you given it any thought ? What factors influence a positive decision toward a video or a negative decision? The list of tips below might influence your decision(1,2,3):
· Gender of presenter- do you favor a male presenter or a female presenter or does it make any difference
· Length of video- is it too short such that you didn't have your questioned answered or is it too long that you lost interest in the speaker’s presentation? The best videos are suggested to be no longer than 15 minutes because after that our attention span is gone.
· Do you like the tone of the speaker’s voice? Do the words flow one after the other or are there breaks, stumbling of words, mispronunciation and is the speaker talking too slow or too fast?
· Is grammar and spelling correct? Credible sites watch their writing style very closely. They want you to come back.
· Is the screen easy to see and read? Good design helps make the information more accessible.
· Look at the source of the information. Does the article have authors listed? If so, are there links to authoritative sources or are they writing/speaking their own opinions without backing up what they say? Are their credentials listed?
· How old is the video? Advances in health management are being made at a rapid rate so you don’t want to watch a video that is 10 years old and if so, has it been updated?
· What promises, if any, are made? Are they realistic? Watch for words such as curative, one time only treatment, free samples and never before treatment.
· Who recommended the video? Did you ask their opinion? Did you discuss your differences or ask someone to help clarify the issue(s) for you?
· Check the domain name. This is the last three letters at the end of the site’s domain name. Options may include “edu”(education); “gov”(government), “org”(non-profit), and “com”(commercial). The “edu” and “gov” websites are usually the most reliable since these domains have restricted use. The other domains can be purchased by any individual. The other sites can certainly contain reliable information but do your homework to be safe.
Diabetes education is promoted by health care providers since Diabetes is a complex disease. With all the new technology and easy access to self-care information we have to have some knowledge on how to consider good versus bad information. Yes, you will come across varying opinions on a topic but that is alright since it just gives us more to think about and perhaps an alternative to doing something a bit easier but getting the same or better end result.
Before closing today I want to clarify something I said on Flash Glucose Monitoring in my blog two weeks ago. The Flash Glucose Monitoring device does actually take a reading every minute, not only when scanned. Each of these readings is put through an algorithm and stored every 15 minutes to save the data and create the history lines and reports. The sensor always keeps the last 8 hours stored so if you scanned every 8 hours or more often then you would have data representing every minute of the day. Thanks to the reader who brought this to my attention.
I hope I have given you something to think about the next time you look at YouTube or any other type of video or program. Good luck and let me know which ones you prefer when dealing with diabetes information.
References:
1. Gimenez-Perez G, Robert-Vila N, Tomé-Guerreiro M, Castells I, Mauricio D. Are YouTube videos useful for patient self-education in type 2 diabetes?. Health Informatics J. 2020;26(1):45-55. doi:10.1177/1460458218813632
2. Haslam K,Doucette H et al. Can J Dent Hyg 2019;53(1): 53-66
3. 4 ways to differentiate a good source from a bad source – online accessed July 14th,2020
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