title: The presentation of seizures and epilepsy in YouTube videos.
abstract: We evaluated videos on the social media website, YouTube, containing references to seizures and epilepsy. Of 100 videos, 28% contained an ictal event, and 25% featured a person with epilepsy recounting his or her personal experience. Videos most commonly fell into categories of Personal Experience/Anecdotal (44%) and Informative/Educational (38%). Fifty-one percent of videos were judged as accurate, and 9% were inaccurate; accuracy was not an applicable attribute in the remainder of the videos. Eighty-five percent of videos were sympathetic towards those with seizures or epilepsy, 9% were neutral, and only 6% were derogatory. Ninety-eight percent of videos were thought to be easily understood by a layperson. The user-generated content on YouTube appears to be more sympathetic and accurate compared to other forms of mass media. We are optimistic that with a shifting ratio towards sympathetic content about epilepsy, the amount of stigma towards epilepsy and seizures will continue to lessen.
authors: Department of Neurology, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR 97239, USA. vwongmd@gmail.com
authors: Victoria S S
authors: VS
authors: Wong
authors: Matthew
authors: M
authors: Stevenson
authors: Linda
authors: L
authors: Selwa
mesh_terms: D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D004501:Education, Medical; D006801:Humans; D033181:Information Dissemination; D012640:Seizures / Q000523:psychology*; D061108:Social Media; D014743:Videotape Recording