EpilepTikTok: An inductive thematic analysis and quality assessment of #epilepsy content shared via a popular social media platform

TikTok is a globally popular social media platform, especially amongst the adolescent and young adult populations, that facilitates sharing of short-form videos. Use of this application for consumption of health-related information, and misinformation, is widespread. Epilepsy is one of the most common neurologic conditions, with abundant epilepsy-related videos appearing on TikTok. The current study sought to explore themes depicted within TikTok videos categorized under the hashtag “#epilepsy” by conducting an inductive thematic analysis of 200 videos. It also characterized the quality of content by assigning a Global Quality Scale score to all videos. Twelve major themes were found across “#epilepsy” videos, namely epilepsy education (19 %), quality of life (18 %), personal narratives (14 %), epilepsy syndromes (11 %), humour (10 %), filmed seizures without additional context (8 %), disease representation in prominent figures (7 %), impact on support persons (4 %), religious or cultural influences (2 %), advertising (2 %), advocacy (2 %), and alternative medicine (2 %). Video quality ranged from very poor to moderate across categories, and there was an inverse correlation between video quality and popularity metrics including likes, comments, saves and shares. Given the widespread use of social media by patients and their families, it is essential that providers are aware of general themes conveyed in videos, in order to combat misinformation and improve patient care.