YouTube as a source of information about COVID-19 for children: Content quality, reliability, and audience participation analysis

PURPOSE: This study aimed to evaluate the content quality, reliability, and audience participation analysis of YouTube videos as a source of information about COVID-19 for children. DESIGN AND METHODS: This study was conducted in a descriptive design. The keywords “COVID-19, explain, children” were searched on the YouTube platform on March 17, 2021, and 294 videos were reviewed. The content of the selected videos was analyzed by 2 independent reviewers. Meet the inclusion criteria, 57 videos were evaluated according to the presenter source and the presented audience with the COVID-19 for Children Checklist (CCC), DISCERN score and the Global Quality Score (GQS). RESULTS: When the contents of 57 videos included in the study were reviewed, it was determined that 56.1% (n = 32) were informative and 43.9% (n = 25) were misleading. Kappa value among the two independent observers was 0.89. 17.5% (n = 10) of the videos scored 5 points from DISCERN and 31.6% (n = 18) scored 4 points from GQS. The mean scores of GQS, DISCERN and CCC of videos with the grouped as informative were found to be statistically higher. There was a significant difference between the DISCERN mean score of ministry/academic/hospital/physician channel videos was higher than the mean score of entertainment/individual channel videos. CONCLUSIONS: This study has shown that videos explaining COVID-19 to children have high viewing rates, but also videos that are low in terms of quality and reliability. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: It is thought that this study will reduce the rates of hospitalization by protecting children from COVID-19 by providing them access to healthier and more reliable sources.