ASSESSING THE QUALITY, RELIABILITY, AND USEFULNESS OF YOUTUBE VIDEOS ON SCABIES

Introduction: Scabies is a common and contagious skin disease caused by Sarcoptes scabiei var. hominis. With the widespread use of online platforms, patients increasingly seek health-related information from video-sharing websites such as YouTube. However, the quality and reliability of such content vary. This study aimed to evaluate the quality, reliability, and usefulness of YouTube videos related to scabies.Myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) are clonal hematopoietic stem cell neoplasms associated with ineffective hematopoiesis and peripheral cytopenias. Azacitidine, a hypomethylating agent, improves overall survival (OS) in higher-risk MDS; however, azacitidine-specific prognostic indicators, including the treatment schedule, remain poorly defined. Methods: The search term "scabies" was typed into YouTube™ (http://www.youtube.com) on June 18, 2025. The first 200 videos were recorded. The videos included in the study were evaluated using the Global Quality Scale (GQS), the modified DISCERN (mDISCERN) scale, and the Patient Education Materials Assessment Tool for Audiovisual Materials (PEMAT-A/V). The usefulness of the content was also included in the evaluation. Results: Of the 108 included videos, 54 (50.0%) were uploaded by physicians. In terms of the usefulness of the content, 73.1% were rated as useful, 13.9% as non-useful, and 13.0% as neutral. Seventy-eight point seven percent of the videos were understandable, and 64.8% were applicable. Physicians uploaded 63.3% of the useful videos, which was significantly higher than the rate of non-useful videos (p<0.001). The useful videos scored higher on both the GQS and the mDISCERN scale than the other videos. Physician videos were more useful (p<0.001). Videos created by physicians were observed to have higher GQS and mDISCERN scores than videos created by non-physicians, (p=0.002 and p=0.001, respectively). Conclusion: Videos uploaded by physicians about scabies were found to be more useful, of higher quality, and more reliable. Therefore, physicians should take a more active role in social media by producing accurate and reliable educational content and adhering to ethical principles in the dissemination of medical information.