ERIC Number: EJ1467171
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2025-Feb
Pages: 10
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0017-8969
EISSN: EISSN-1748-8176
Available Date: 0000-00-00
Medical Misinformation in Social Media: Representations of Gastrointestinal Disorders on a Short Video Platform
Matthew T. Bell1; Alicia Stephan2; Nicholas Cumpian1; Hawwa Alao3; Pradeep R. Atla3; Neetika Srivastava3; Wayne M. Fleischman3; Viktor E. Eysselein3,4; Sofiya Reicher3,4
Health Education Journal, v84 n1 p95-104 2025
Background and Objectives: Short video platforms have become one of the most common methods for disseminating medical information on social media. We analysed gastrointestinal (GI)-related content on TikTok, focusing on the creators' background, patterns of content utilisation and overall content quality and understandability, using validated metrics to quantify the degree of misinformation. Methods: Twelve hashtags related to common GI conditions on TikTok and the 20 most engaging posts associated with each hashtag were selected for review. The 'most engaging' status was determined by the application's internal algorithm. Six GI board-certified physicians evaluated the videos using two validated instruments: DISCERN quality criteria and Patient Education Materials Assessment Tool (PEMAT-A/V) survey. Results: In total, 253 videos were reviewed with 18.6 billion likes, 191,000 comments, 935,000 saves and 927,000 shares. IBS hashtag had the greatest number of views (2.2 billion), while videos on haemorrhoids had the most likes (4.3 million), comments (59,000) and shares (288,000). Most videos 177/253 (70%) were created by non-healthcare workers. The median video quality was 2/5 on DISCERN Likert-type scale with 23/75 DISCERN score. Of 186 videos, 114 (61.3%) were rated 'very poor'; 58/186 (31.2%) 'poor', 13/186 (7%) 'fair' and only one video (0.5%) was rated 'excellent' on DISCERN grading system. The median PEMAT-A/V scores were 7/12 (73.9%) for understandability and 1/3 (33.3%) for actionability. Conclusion: Our study highlights significant public interest in common GI disorders. However, most posts lacked substantive information and did not have verifiable sources.
Descriptors: Video Technology, Social Media, Information Dissemination, Human Body, Misinformation, Information Sources, Credibility, Interests, Diseases, Health Personnel
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: 1Department of Internal Medicine, Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, Torrance, CA, USA; 2Yale School of Medicine, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA; 3Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, Torrance, CA, USA; 4Lundquist Institute for Biomedical Innovation, Torrance, CA, USA