Quality and Reliability Analysis of Youtube Videos on Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and its Treatment
Esengül Ekici · Journal of Cognitive-Behavioral Psychotherapy and Research · 2025
The Internet is a crucial and popular health knowledge resource for individuals.YouTube ranks among the most frequently used social media platforms globally.Multiple studies have reported that the quality of health information in YouTube videos is low, and many YouTube users are exposed to such low-quality information.This study aims to establish the quality and reliability of the most-viewed videos about obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and its treatment.On September 15, 2024, the terms "obsessivecompulsive disorder, " "OCD, " "obsessive-compulsive disorder treatment, " and "OCD treatment" were searched on YouTube.Video features (duration of the video, number of likes, comments, and views) and upload sources were noted.Quality and reliability were evaluated based on the Quality Criteria for Consumer Health Information (DISCERN) and the Global Quality Scale (GQS) scores.A total of 126 mostviewed YouTube videos were assessed, and exclusion criteria were subsequently applied.The analysis showed that 31.8% of the YouTube videos on OCD and OCD treatment were very poor or poor, 31.8% were fair, and 36.4% were good or excellent.Our findings revealed that DISCERN (p=0.004) and GQS (p=0.000)scores were significantly higher for YouTube videos uploaded by healthcare providers than for those uploaded by independent users.There were no relationships between DISCERN scores and video duration and popularity indices (likes, comments, view ratio, Video Like Ratio, and Video Power Index [VPI]).However, the view ratio, number of likes, and VPI were significantly higher for videos rated as fair compared to those in the other groups (p<0.05).Platforms such as YouTube have become significant public resources for mental health education.To increase the impact of medical videos, efforts should be focused on maintaining high-quality content while keeping the video length concise.Optimizing both content quality and video length can significantly improve the effectiveness of health-related videos as primary sources of information from health professionals.