Xin Zheng, DO, MS
Resident Physician
Loma Linda University Medical Center
Loma Linda, California
Xin Zheng, DO, MS1, Xiaowen Fan, MD2, Andrew P. Wright, MD1, John Kim, MD1, Yan Zhao, MD1
1Loma Linda University Medical Center, Loma Linda, CA; 2Mount Sinai St. Luke's and Mount Sinai West, New York, NY
Introduction: Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) affects around 11% of the population globally and often associated with lower quality of life. The diagnostic challenges and myths surrounding IBS further drive patients to seek additional information via social media platforms such as YouTube. This study performs a multi-dimensional analysis of the most viewed IBS videos on YouTube using the DISCERN scoring system. The goal of this study is to determine the overall validity, breadth and depth of IBS knowledge delivered to patients seeking IBS information on YouTube.
Methods: The multi-dimensional content analysis includes two parts. Part I consists of a general search using keyword “IBS”. The 30 most viewed videos were reviewed individually for their information on IBS diagnosis, symptoms, treatment and prognosis. Part II focuses on the 10 most viewed videos and 3 board certified gastroenterologists undergo a detailed content analysis using the validated DISCERN scoring system (1- low quality to 5 – high quality) and further validated the contents against the current practice guidelines and consensus.
Results: Of the 30 top viewed IBS videos, 60% (n=18) were made by for-profit websites or companies (total 5.28 million views), 23.33% (n=7) came from scientific and medical institutions (total 2.54 million views), and 16.67% (n=5) were personal commentaries and experiences (total 1.14 million views). Videos made by scientific institutions have the highest average number of views per video.
The average DISCERN score for overall quality of the top 10 videos was low-intermediate quality (2.38 out of 5). Low quality videos have a total views three times more than those of intermediate quality (3.67 million vs. 1.25 million). These videos score relatively high ( >3) on items relating to the benefits of their proposed treatment but low on item relating to the risks of each treatment.
Discussion:
In this study, the overall quality of YouTube’s most viewed videos on IBS treatment have a collectively low-intermediate quality. They often avoid discussion on the risks of their proposed treatment option. The number of views also does not necessary correlate with quality. Videos made by for-profit organizations have total view counts much higher than videos made by reliable medical institutions, likely because they are more invested in advertising and have more videos. The medical community will need to collectively deliver better quality and more YouTube video for the purpose of IBS patient education.
Citation: Xin Zheng, DO, MS; Xiaowen Fan, MD; Andrew P. Wright, MD; John Kim, MD; Yan Zhao, MD. P1248 - SOCIAL MEDIA USE IN IRRITABLE BOWEL SYNDROME PATIENT EDUCATION: A CONTENT ANALYSIS OF YOUTUBE VIDEOS. Program No. P1248. ACG 2019 Annual Scientific Meeting Abstracts. San Antonio, Texas: American College of Gastroenterology.