scholarly journals YouTube as a source of public health information regarding COVID-19 vaccination: an assessment of reliability and quality of video content (Preprint)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Calvin Chan ◽  
Viknesh Sounderajah ◽  
Elisabeth Daniels ◽  
Amish Acharya ◽  
Jonathan Clarke ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Information ◽  
Public Awareness ◽  
Public Health Intervention ◽  
Medical Professionals ◽  
Video Content ◽  
Public Health Information ◽  
Health Related ◽  
Quality And Reliability

BACKGROUND Recent emergency authorisation and rollout of COVID-19 vaccines by regulatory bodies has generated global attention. As the most popular video-sharing platform globally, YouTube is a potent medium for dissemination of key public health information. Understanding the nature of available content regarding COVID-19 vaccination on this widely used platform is of substantial public health interest. OBJECTIVE To evaluate the reliability and quality of information of YouTube videos regarding COVID-19 vaccination. METHODS For this cross-sectional study, the phrases ‘coronavirus vaccine’ and ‘COVID-19 vaccine’ were searched on the UK version of YouTube on December 10, 2020. The 200 most-viewed videos of each search were extracted and screened for relevance and English language. Video content and characteristics were extracted and independently rated against Health on the Net Foundation Code of Conduct (HONCode) and DISCERN quality criteria for consumer health information by two authors. RESULTS Forty-eight videos, with a combined total view count of 30,100,561, were included in the analysis. Topics addressed comprised: vaccine science (58%), vaccine trials (58%), side effects (48%), efficacy (35%) and manufacturing (17%). Twenty-one percent of videos encouraged continued public health measures. Only 4.2% of videos made non-factual claims. Ninety-eight percent of video content was scored to have low (60%) or medium (38%) adherence to HONCode principles. Educational channels produced by both medical and non-medical professionals achieved significantly higher DISCERN scores than other categories. The highest DISCERN scores were achieved by educational videos produced by medical professionals (64.3 (58.5-66.3)) and the lowest scores by independent users (18 (18-20)). CONCLUSIONS Overall quality and reliability of information on YouTube regarding COVID-19 vaccines remains poor. Videos produced by educational channels, especially by medical professionals, were higher in quality and reliability than those produced by other sources, including health-related organisations. Collaboration between health-related organisations and established medical and educational YouTube content producers provide an opportunity for dissemination of high-quality information regarding COVID-19 vaccination. Such collaboration holds potential as a rapidly implementable public health intervention aiming to engage a wide audience and increase public awareness and knowledge.

Japanese-language videos on YouTube as a source of public health information for COVID-19 (Preprint)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Takeo Yasu
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Information ◽  
Scientific Evidence ◽  
The State ◽  
Video Content ◽  
Sources Of Information ◽  
State Of Emergency ◽  
Public Health Information ◽  
Youtube Videos ◽  
Spread Of Infection

BACKGROUND Serious public health problems, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, can cause an infodemic. Sources of information that may cause an infodemic include social networking services; YouTube, which consists of content created and uploaded by individuals, is one such source. OBJECTIVE To survey the content and changes in YouTube videos that present public health information about COVID-19 in Japan. METHODS We surveyed YouTube content regarding public health information pertaining to COVID-19 in Japan. YouTube searches were performed on March 6, 2020 (before the state of emergency), April 14 (during the state of emergency), and May 27 (after the state of emergency was lifted), with 136, 113, and 140 sample videos evaluated, respectively. The main outcome measures were: (1) The total number of views for each video, (2) video content, and (3) the usefulness of the video. RESULTS In the 100 most viewed YouTube videos during the three periods, the number of videos on public health information in March was significantly higher than in May (p = .02). Of the 331 unique videos, 9.1% (n = 30) were released by healthcare professionals. Useful videos providing public health information about the prevention of the spread of infection comprised only 13.0% of the sample but were viewed significantly more often than not useful videos (p = .006). CONCLUSIONS Individuals need to take care when obtaining information from YouTube before or early in a pandemic, during which time scientific evidence is scarce.

Digital healthcare public health

2020 ◽  
pp. 187-200
Author(s):  
Martin Gulliford ◽  
Edmund Jessop ◽  
Lucy Yardley
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Information ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Rapid Change ◽  
Health Benefit ◽  
Smart Devices ◽  
Multiple Data ◽  
Public Health Information ◽  
Health Related ◽  
Computationally Intensive

New digital technologies are having important impacts on the practice of public health and the organization and delivery of healthcare. Developments in information technology ensure that public health information is now available in more timely and accessible formats; data linkage has enriched public health information by making it possible to analyse multiple data sources simultaneously; and the use of smart devices and smart cards is generating even larger data resources that may be utilized for public health benefit. Computationally intensive approaches, derived from machine learning and artificial intelligence research, can be employed to develop algorithms that may efficiently automate healthcare-related tasks that previously relied on human analytical capabilities. Prediction modelling and risk stratification are being developed to promote precision public health. Increasing population coverage, with smartphones and other smart devices, makes it possible to deliver health-related interventions remotely, blurring the distinction between healthcare and public health. The availability of social media makes the exchange of knowledge and opinion more open, but this may also contribute to the propagation of false information that may be detrimental to public health. Public health needs to embrace and understand these developments in order to be at the forefront in harnessing these new technologies to improve population health and reduce inequalities. This must be accompanied by awareness of some of the ethical challenges of big-data analysis, the potential limitations of new analytical techniques, the relevance of behavioural science in understanding the human–machine interface, and the importance of critical evaluation in an era of rapid change.

scholarly journals Framing diabetes public health information during Ramadan – a newspaper content analysis

2017 ◽  
Vol 45 (6) ◽  
pp. 1750-1759 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kerry Wilbur ◽  
Souad Berzou ◽  
Robert Meeds
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Content Analysis ◽  
Health Information ◽  
Diabetes Management ◽  
Printed Media ◽  
Review Period ◽  
Public Health Information ◽  
Health Related ◽  
English Articles ◽  
Low Coverage

Objective To evaluate health-related messages in printed media pertaining to diabetes care in Qatar during Ramadan. Methods Qatar national newspapers (Arabic and/or English) published 6 weeks prior to and 4 weeks during Ramadan 2012 were reviewed. Health-related content was identified and characterized according to four different categories including presence of messages pertaining to both diabetes and Ramadan. Articles describing diabetes and Ramadan combined were further evaluated according to specific features of prominence (surrogates for perceived reader importance). Newspapers were grouped by language, and volume and content of coverage were compared between groups. Results A total of 1 467 newspaper issues published during the 2012 review period (781 in Arabic and 686 in English) were analysed. Health-related articles appeared consistently throughout the study period, but few were specifically diabetes-related (66/1095 [6%] Arabic articles versus 34/1250 [2.7%] English articles; P = 0.008). Only 34/1095 (3.1%) Arabic and 23/1 250 (1.8%) English ( P = 0.05) articles pertaining specifically to diabetes management during Ramadan were published. Twenty/34 (59%, Arabic) and 6/23 (26%, English) were published in high prominence positions. Conclusions Opportunity exists to augment the relatively low coverage of diabetes health-related messages in print media during Ramadan.

scholarly journals Rendszer az egészségügyi weboldalak hitelesítésére

2018 ◽  
Vol 159 (13) ◽  
pp. 511-519
Author(s):  
Tamás Horváth ◽  
Katalin Matics ◽  
Bertalan Meskó
Keyword(s):  
Scoring System ◽  
Medical Profession ◽  
Medical Professionals ◽  
Web Resources ◽  
Contact Information ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Health Related ◽  
Quality And Reliability ◽  
Online Patient Education

Abstract: Introduction and aim: The unreliable quality of online health contents poses a serious challenge to the medical profession. Evaluating websites on the basis of their credibility increases the chance for readers to access professional content of better quality. Hungary still lags behind in taking practical steps to improve the quality and reliability of online patient education. Method: EgészségKommandó (HealthCommando) is a new Hungarian objective scoring system established to evaluate the credibility of health related websites. It uses four types of indicators: transparency, content, recommendations, references. Results: We evaluated 122 websites with EgészségKommandó. Out of this, 22.1% qualified as credible. The same assessment using JAMA benchmarks yielded only one credible website (0.8%). The most frequent deficiencies were the absence of reference to source, the omission of the quote that “the website information does not replace the doctor-patient discussion”, and the identity of the author. In 45.9% of the cases, however, the content was written by medical professionals with contact information. Conclusion: By applying different types of credibility and quality indicators in a scoring system, EgészségKommandó can efficiently assess the websites on health-awareness. In cases where the recognized indicators are absent multiple times from a website, it will not pass the credibility test. Thus, EgészégKommandó can act as a filter. At the same time, EgészségKommandó is also capable of assessing webpages of different sorts systemically, and can recommend a proportionately large amount of reliable Hungarian medical web resources to those interested. Orv Hetil. 2018; 159(13): 511–519.

scholarly journals Hand Hygiene and Mask-Wearing Practices during COVID-19 among Healthcare Workers: Misinformation as a Predictor

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Senhu Wang ◽  
Lambert Zixin Li ◽  
Natasha van Antwerpen ◽  
Sutrisno Suparman ◽  
Mergy Gayatri ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Hand Hygiene ◽  
Health Information ◽  
Regression Models ◽  
Healthcare Workers ◽  
Cross Sectional Survey ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Logistic Regression Models ◽  
Public Health Information ◽  
Health Related

Poor public health information is a hurdle in infectious disease control. The study aims to examine whether healthcare workers adhere to hand hygiene and mask-wearing guidelines during the COVID-19 pandemic and to explore their exposure to misinformation about the pandemic as a predictor. A cross-sectional survey was sent to 518 healthcare workers across Indonesia, the fourth largest nation in the world, in September 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. The respondents reported whether they adhered to the guidelines of hand hygiene and mask wearing and whether they believed in four pieces of misinformation about the origin, severity, contagion, and prevention of COVID-19. The association between misinformation and hand hygiene and mask wearing was tested with logistic regression models controlling for demographic and health-related covariates. Approximately 25% of healthcare workers did not always adhere to hand hygiene guidelines and approximately 5% did not adhere to mask-wearing guidelines. There are significant associations between all four pieces of misinformation and hand hygiene and mask wearing. It is important to improve public health information about COVID-19, which may hold key to healthcare workers’ hand hygiene and mask wearing and to protect their health and patients’ safety.

The Paradox of the Health Commons

2011 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
Natalie Pang
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Open Access ◽  
Health Information ◽  
Medical Professionals ◽  
Playing Field ◽  
Access To Health ◽  
Public Health Information ◽  
Participatory Technologies ◽  
Information Providers ◽  
The Web

Advances in participatory technologies have created both benefits and challenges for consumers of public health information. Health information is more available than before, as well as diverse in terms of sources and information providers. The playing field of information creation and use is level: both medical professionals and the lay person can equally contribute and gain open access to health information via the Web. However, this also creates significant challenges. Information can be used in inappropriate contexts, the user can wrongly diagnose his or her ailments, and reading about ailments can negatively impact hypochondriacs. Contemporary discourse has argued for the benefits of such co-created health information as a health commons, yet more work is required to anticipate and elucidate its related challenges. The paper deepens understanding about the structural layers governing health information, as well as highlights the risks involved. As people use health information at a greater frequency and depth, and use participatory technologies to contribute health information, the discourse on the challenges ahead is imminent.

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