Abstract
Physicians should be aware of both websites and videos available online regarding
the otoplasty procedure to provide quality care. This study systematically analyzes
the authorships, reliability, quality, and readability of the websites, as well as
the authorships and primary objectives of the videos regarding otoplasty. Validated
instruments were used to analyze the reliability, quality, and readability of websites,
and videos were systematically categorized and analyzed. A Google search was conducted,
and the first five pages of results were included in this study. After excluding unrelated
websites, the remaining 44 websites were categorized by authorship (physician, patient,
academic, or unaffiliated) and were analyzed using the validated DISCERN instrument
for reliability and quality, as well as various other validated instruments to measure
readability. A YouTube search was also conducted, and the first 50 relevant videos
were included in the study. These videos were categorized by authorship and their
primary objective. Website authorships were physician-dominated. Reliability, quality,
and overall DISCERN score differ between the four authorship groups by a statistically
significant margin (Kruskall–Wallis test, p < 0.05). Unaffiliated websites were the most reliable, and physician websites were
the least reliable. Academic websites were of the highest quality, and patient websites
were of the lowest quality. Readability did not differ significantly between the groups,
though the readability measurements made showed a general lack of material easily
readable by the general public. YouTube was likewise dominated by physician-authored
videos. While the physician-authored videos sought mainly to inform and to advertise,
patient-authored videos sought mainly to provide the patient's perspective. Academic
organizations showed very little representation on YouTube, and the YouTube views
on otoplasty videos were dominated by the top 20 videos, which represented over 93%
of the total views of videos included in this study.
Keywords
otoplasty - DISCERN - readability - websites - videos - online information - patient
education - Google - YouTube
