title: YouTube as a source of quit smoking information for people living with mental illness.
abstract: YouTube is the most popular video sharing website, and is increasingly used to broadcast health information including smoking cessation advice. This study examines the quality and quantity of YouTube quit smoking videos targeted at people living with mental illness (MI).
  
  
  
  We systematically searched YouTube using selected relevant search terms. The first 50 videos obtained for each search term were screened for relevance and further videos screened through snowball sampling. Forty unique, English language videos focussing on people with MI were included in the assessment and evaluated for general video characteristics, themes, format, targeted smoking cessation and harm reduction information.
  
  
  
  Most videos either discussed the problem of high smoking rates among people with MI (n=12) or smoking cessation programmes and policies at an institutional level (n=13). Only nine videos were aimed at providing quit smoking advice to this population. One video recommended higher doses of nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) for people with MI while six videos referred to possible changes in medication dosage on quitting smoking. Four videos suggested cutting down smoking for harm reduction.
  
  
  
  Very few YouTube videos specifically focus on the problem of high smoking rates among people with MI and even fewer provide targeted smoking cessation and harm reduction advice for this priority population. There is a need to develop comprehensive, evidence based, quit smoking video resources for smokers with a MI.
authors.affiliation: School of Public Health, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
authors.forename: Ratika
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-0205-1309
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sharma
authors.affiliation: School Of Medicine, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
authors.forename: Maya
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lucas
authors.affiliation: School of Dentistry, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
authors.forename: Pauline
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ford
authors.affiliation: School of Public Health, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.|Centre for Youth Substance Abuse Research, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
authors.forename: Carla
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Meurk
authors.affiliation: School of Public Health, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.|University of Queensland Centre for Clinical Research, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
authors.forename: Coral E
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Gartner
mesh_terms: D054626:Consumer Health Information; D040261:Harm Reduction; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D012907:Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology; D016540:Smoking Cessation / Q000379:methods*; D000074606:Smoking Prevention / Q000379:methods*; D061485:Tobacco Use Cessation Devices; D014741:Video Recording
keywords: Cessation; Disparities; Harm Reduction; Media; Priority/special populations