Are YouTube™ and TikTok™ videos useful as educational tool for patients with cleft lip and palate?

Objective: To evaluate the quality of YouTube™ and TikTok™ videos as educational tools for patients with cleft lip and palate (CLP) as regards their care, and multidisciplinary treatment.

Methods: Videos were searched on YouTube™ and TikTok™ using four keywords. The reliability and quality of the first 60 videos for each keyword and platform were analyzed. The following variables were analyzed: the source, distribution, and purpose of the videos, the general and audiovisual quality of the videos, and their main subject. The study's covariates were cleft classification, dental treatment, pre-surgical orthopedic treatments, surgical and medical treatments.

Results: Of the 480 videos selected, 303 videos were evaluated (177 excluded due to the exclusion criteria). TikTok™ emerged as the most frequently accessed platform, recording a greater number of views and likes. YouTube™ stood out for its availability of longer and more comprehensive videos, in terms of content. On YouTube™ the majority of videos were produced by academic/health and medical organizations, predominantly aimed at educational purposes; whereas on TikTok™ prevailed the production of individual and personal content geared toward informational purposes. On both platforms, the videos proved to be of low quality. YouTube™ videos from individual sources and organizations were associated with medium and low quality, respectively. Additionally, YouTube™ videos of shorter duration were of lower quality. TikTok™ videos had lower overall quality, especially those produced individually, regardless of associations.

Conclusions: YouTube™ and TikTok™ exhibited predominantly low-quality videos, suggesting they are not suitable as educational tools to guide patients with CLP for their multidisciplinary treatment.