Osong Public Health Res Perspect.
2017 Aug;8(4):289-292. 10.24171/j.phrp.2017.8.4.10.
Lyme Disease and YouTubeTM: A Cross-Sectional Study of Video Contents
- Affiliations
-
- 1Department of Public Health, William Paterson University, Wayne, New Jersey, United States of America.
- 2Department of Epidemiology and Environmental Health Sciences, Jiann-Ping Hsu College of Public Health, Georgia Southern University, Statesboro, Georgia, United States of America. cfung@georgiasouthern.edu
- 3Department of Biostatistics, Jiann-Ping Hsu College of Public Health, Georgia Southern University, Statesboro, Georgia, United States of America.
- 4Teachers College, Columbia University, New York City, New York, United States of America.
- KMID: 2394488
- DOI: http://doi.org/10.24171/j.phrp.2017.8.4.10
Abstract
OBJECTIVES
Lyme disease is the most common tick-borne disease. People seek health information on Lyme disease from YouTubeâ„¢ videos. In this study, we investigated if the contents of Lyme disease-related YouTubeâ„¢ videos varied by their sources.
METHODS
Most viewed English YouTubeâ„¢ videos (n = 100) were identified and manually coded for contents and sources.
RESULTS
Within the sample, 40 videos were consumer-generated, 31 were internet-based news, 16 were professional, and 13 were TV news. Compared with consumer-generated videos, TV news videos were more likely to mention celebrities (odds ratio [OR], 10.57; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.13-52.58), prevention of Lyme disease through wearing protective clothing (OR, 5.63; 95% CI, 1.23-25.76), and spraying insecticides (OR, 7.71; 95% CI, 1.52-39.05).
CONCLUSION
A majority of the most popular Lyme disease-related YouTubeâ„¢ videos were not created by public health professionals. Responsible reporting and creative video-making facilitate Lyme disease education. Partnership with YouTubeâ„¢ celebrities to co-develop educational videos may be a future direction.
