The study published in Cureus has uncovered the discrepancy between the reliability and reach of YouTube videos that cover anorexia nervosa topics. The study found that content posted by healthcare organizations Hannah Birch, PhD, and John F. Goodyear, as well as news sources and patients, tend to attract more attention to engagement.
Anorexia nervosa is a severe eating disorder that involves intense fear of gaining weight, a negative self-image, and self-imposed starvation. It is most frequently experienced by women, but it can affect men as well. The health implications of this eating disorder are severe, including cardiovascular complications, menstrual irregularities, and other potentially life-threatening issues like electrolyte imbalances and organ damage.
Increasingly, the popularity of YouTube and similar websites on social media’s power to reach millions of people has led to it having increased in popularity as a “hub” for health information, although it also allows advertisers to mis-send ads or publish false or bogus claims. All these harmful commercial interests are allowing YouTubers to spread lies or false information. So a few young scientists set out to study the quality, authenticity and reliability of YouTube videos if they were compelled to post about anorexic content on YouTube.
An investigation was undertaken by researchers from various medical institutions in India, Barbados, and Nepal to assess the quality, accuracy, and type of information regarding anorexia nervosa on YouTube, with guidance from Ananthakrishnan Suresh, a professor at the Calicut Government Medical College.
In order to conduct the study, the researchers examined 59 YouTube videos and identified keywords related to anorexia nervosa, such as “Anorexia nervosa treatment” and “Anorexia nervosa care plan.” They assessed the quality of each video using tools like the GQS and the DISCERN Instrument, both of which are designed to assess the quality and accuracy of health information.
The videos, comprising of 59 titles, accumulated over 12.6 million views, with 256,602 likes, 5,644 dislikes, and 17,761 comments. Of these, 81.36% covered anorexia nervosa treatment options, while 79.6% described the symptoms of the disorder. However, the reliability of these videos varied depending on the creator.
Unverified sources were responsible for uploading 42.4% of the videos, while only 12.5% came from either doctors or healthcare organizations. These two groups scored highly on a GQS scale, with a median score of 4 out of 5 in terms of reliability and quality. Consequently, it is often concluded that content from healthcare professionals is more reliable than content from other sources.
Video viewers rated videos uploaded by news outlets (15.3%) and patients (11.9%) higher compared to other sources.
These results suggest a significant challenge: video produced by medical professionals, although typically more credible, do not ‘enhance’ the viewership compared to videos produced elsewhere, a challenge which cautions us about the danger: that misinformation could spread more rapidly and across more screens than factual medical material.
The authors of the study stated in their conclusion that the content in social media posts should be vetted by appropriately qualified medical professionals, including doctors and healthcare organizations. The information should be clear, accessible, and able to comprehend the medical condition. Additionally, videos should emphasize the process of receiving diagnosis and treatment from a doctor instead of relying on self-diagnosis.
Several drawbacks were identified by the authors of the study, such as the exclusion of videos longer than 20 minutes, which may not have been incorporated into the analysis for some highly detailed videos of high quality, and the lack of consideration for geographical differences in the content of the videos in the study due to the perception of the content by viewers in various regions. The assessment of video quality and reliability was also subjective, as it depended on the judgment of the researchers using standard grading tools.
Despite the drawbacks, the study provides valuable insight into the content of YouTube videos containing anorexia. It also underscores the necessity of better regulation and promotion of high-quality health information on social media platforms, as well as the accuracy and reliability of the information provided by non-experts on the site.
An analysis of YouTube videos about anorexia Nervosa in accordance with the reliability, popularity, and contributions of healthcare professionals was conducted in a cross-sectional study by Ananthakrishnan Suresh, Lalitha Lalithya Pallempati, Palak Saxena, Ayesha Ansari, Radhika Bassi, and Ajita Bhandari.
