Sufficiency of YouTube Videos as a Source of Information in Kidney Transplantation

OBJECTIVE: It was evaluated the sufficiency of YouTube videos related with kidney transplantation as a source of information in this study.

MATERIAL and METHODS: A search was made on YouTube web site on 01.09.2015 with the “kidney transplantation” keyword. Videos were evaluated by two nephrology specialists experienced in kidney transplantation. Scores (between 0 and 10) for “reliability”, “quality”, “usefulness” were given to each video content during expert evaluation. Chi-square, Mann-Whitney U, and Kruskal-Wallis analyses were carried out for the evaluation of the acquired data using SPSS 20.0.

RESULTS: It was determined that 10% of the videos included in the study contained misleading information. It was determined that the videos which have received the highest number of views were on herbal products, surgical intervention and religious knowledge videos respectively (p<0.05). When the distribution of evaluated score averages with regard to the source uploading the video was considered, statistically significant differences were determined in all areas (p<0.05).

CONCLUSION: Even though there is information on YouTube related with kidney transplantation, there are also videos that include misleading and unprofessional information. It is thought that healthcare professionals have significant responsibilities for ensuring that videos with reliable content are available in social media.