YouTube as a source of information about COVID-19 for children: Content quality, reliability, and audience participation analysis.
Merve Azak, Kadriye Şahin, Nihan Korkmaz and 1 others
PMID 34247879WHAT IT FOUND
Among 57 English YouTube videos explaining COVID-19 to children, 32 were judged informative and 25 misleading; ministry, academic, hospital, and physician videos were judged more reliable than entertainment or individual videos.
Key findings
01Of the 57 included videos, 32 were informative and 25 were misleading.
02Videos judged informative had higher mean quality, reliability, and comprehensiveness scores than videos judged misleading.
03Ministry, academic, hospital, and physician channel videos had higher mean reliability scores than entertainment/individual channel videos.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
It was a single search on one day, so it describes YouTube videos available in March 2021 and may not reflect what families find now. Only English videos were included, so it may not apply to families who use other languages. It analysed 57 videos selected from one search by relevance, not a random sample of all child-oriented COVID-19 videos. The study did not observe children or parents, so it cannot say whether the videos were understood, accepted, or used safely. The 10-item checklist was developed by the researchers for this study and was not described as validated. The viewers' ages and backgrounds were unknown, so it could not tell which age group each video suited.
Declared interests
The research received no specific grant. The authors declared no conflict of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read this as evidence that YouTube videos improve children's understanding or infection-control behaviour. It rated videos at one time point and did not test any patient or family outcome; 25 of 57 videos were misleading.