Ann Pediatr Endocrinol Metab.  2015 Sep;20(3):143-149. 10.6065/apem.2015.20.3.143.

Qualitative assessment of precocious puberty-related user-created contents on YouTube

Affiliations
  • 1Department of Pediatrics, Korea University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea. khlee218@kumc.or.kr
  • 2Korea University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.

Abstract

PURPOSE
User-created content (UCC) has provided a considerable amount of medical information and become an important source. We aimed to evaluate the quality and scientific accuracy of precocious puberty-related UCC on YouTube.
METHODS
The keywords "precocious puberty", "early puberty", "sexual precocity", and "precocity" were searched for on YouTube during June and July 2014. More than 1,500 UCC matched the keywords. According to the information provider, UCC was classified as medical, oriental, or commercial & others. We evaluated the quality and scientific accuracy of the information provided in UCC using the DISCERN instrument and information scores, respectively.
RESULTS
We selected 51 UCC, which were categorized into three types: medical (n=17), oriental (n=17), or commercial & others (n=17). The overall quality score for medical UCC (3.4) was significantly higher relative to those of oriental and commercial & others UCC (2.8 and 2.3, respectively) (P<0.001). In the assessment of scientific accuracy, the mean information score for medical UCC (30.7) was significantly higher than those of oriental and commercial & others UCC (15.9 and 5.1, respectively) (P<0.001). The mean duration of oriental UCC was the longest (P<0.001), however, it was viewed less frequently among them (P=0.086).
CONCLUSION
The quality and accuracy of precocious puberty-related health information in UCC were variable and often unreliable. The overall quality of UCC regarding precocious puberty was moderate. Only medical UCC provided scientifically accurate information. As UCC becomes a popular source of health information, it is important to provide reliable, scientifically accurate information.

Keyword

Precocious puberty; User-created content; YouTube; DISCERN; Information score

MeSH Terms

Puberty, Precocious

Figure

  • Fig. 1 Flow diagram showing method of UCC selection. UCC, user-created content.


Reference

1. Keelan J, Pavri-Garcia V, Tomlinson G, Wilson K. YouTube as a source of information on immunization: a content analysis. JAMA. 2007; 298:2482–2484. PMID: 18056901.
Article
2. YouTube. Statistics [Internet]. San Bruno (CA): YouTube LLC;c2015. cited 2015 Apr 2. Available from: http://www.youtube.com/yt/press/statistics.html.
3. Wolfe RM, Sharp LK, Lipsky MS. Content and design attributes of antivaccination web sites. JAMA. 2002; 287:3245–3248. PMID: 12076221.
Article
4. Crocco AG, Villasis-Keever M, Jadad AR. Analysis of cases of harm associated with use of health information on the internet. JAMA. 2002; 287:2869–2871. PMID: 12038937.
Article
5. Health Insurance Review & Assessment Service [Internet]. Seoul: Health Insurance Review & Assessment Service;c2015. cited 2015 Apr 2. Available from: http://www.hira.or.kr.
6. Charnock D, Shepperd S, Needham G, Gann R. DISCERN: an instrument for judging the quality of written consumer health information on treatment choices. J Epidemiol Community Health. 1999; 53:105–111. PMID: 10396471.
Article
7. Charnock D. The discern handbook: quality criteria for consumer health information on treatment choices. Oxon: Radcliffe Medical Press Ltd.;1998.
8. Libertiny G, Perkins JM, Magee TR, Galland RB. Varicose veins on the internet. Eur J Vasc Endovasc Surg. 2000; 20:386–389. PMID: 11035972.
Article
9. Kim BK, Park SH, Sung HU, Park SY, Kwon YS, Jun YH, et al. Evaluation of information of websites on precocious puberty. Ann Pediatr Endocrinol Metab. 2012; 17:27–32.
Article
10. Billboard. PSY's 'Gangnam Style' video hits 1 billion views, unprecedented milestone [Internet]. New York: Billboard;c2012. cited 2015 Apr 2. Available from: http://www.billboard.com/biz/articles/news/1483733/psys-gangnam-style-video-hits-1-billion-views-unprecedented-milestone.
11. Farnan J, Paro JA, Higa J, Edelson J, Arora VM. The YouTube generation: implications for medical professionalism. Perspect Biol Med. 2008; 51:517–524. PMID: 18997354.
Article
12. Boyer C, Selby M, Scherrer JR, Appel RD. The Health On the Net Code of Conduct for medical and health Websites. Comput Biol Med. 1998; 28:603–610. PMID: 9861515.
Article
13. Pipino LL, Lee YW, Wang RY. Data quality assessment. Commun ACM. 2002; 45:211–218.
Article
14. Park JH, Cho BL, Kim YI, Shin YS, Kim Y. Assessing the quality of internet health information using DISCERN. J Korean Soc Med Inform. 2005; 11:235–246.
Article
15. Chang MY, Han DH, Moon IJ, Kim ST, Kim DY, Lee CH, et al. Assessment of allergic rhinitis websites in Korea. Clin Exp Otorhinolaryngol. 2010; 3:32–36. PMID: 20379400.
Article
16. Ahn SH. Qualitative assessment of atopic dermatitis-related UCC on YouTube [dissertation]. Seoul: Korea University;2014.
Full Text Links
  • APEM
Actions
Cited
CITED
export Copy
Close
Share
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
Similar articles
Copyright © 2024 by Korean Association of Medical Journal Editors. All rights reserved.     E-mail: koreamed@kamje.or.kr