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. 2023 Jul 5:25:e47210.
doi: 10.2196/47210.

Quality and Reliability of Liver Cancer-Related Short Chinese Videos on TikTok and Bilibili: Cross-Sectional Content Analysis Study

Shusen Zheng  1 , Xinyu Tong  1 , Dalong Wan  1 , Chen Hu  1 , Qing Hu  1 , Qinghong Ke  1
Affiliations

Quality and Reliability of Liver Cancer-Related Short Chinese Videos on TikTok and Bilibili: Cross-Sectional Content Analysis Study

Shusen Zheng et al. J Med Internet Res. .

Abstract

Background: Liver cancer incidence has been increasing in China in the recent years, leading to increased public concern regarding the burden of this disease. Short videos on liver cancer are disseminated through TikTok and Bilibili apps, which have gained popularity in recent years as an easily accessible source of health information. However, the credibility, quality, and usefulness of the information in these short videos and the professional knowledge of the individuals uploading health information-based videos in these platforms have not yet been evaluated.

Objective: Our study aims to assess the quality of the information in Chinese short videos on liver cancer shared on the TikTok and Bilibili short video-sharing platforms.

Methods: In March 2023, we assessed the top 100 Chinese short videos on liver cancer in TikTok and Bilibili (200 videos in total) for their information quality and reliability by using 2 rating tools, namely, global quality score (GQS) and the DISCERN instrument. Correlation and Poisson regression analyses were applied to discuss the factors that could impact video quality.

Results: Compared to Bilibili, TikTok is more popular, although the length of the videos on TikTok is shorter than that of the videos on Bilibili (P<.001). The quality of the short videos on liver cancer in TikTok and Bilibili was not satisfactory, with median GQS of 3 (IQR 2-4) and 2 (IQR 1-5) and median DISCERN scores of 5 (IQR 4-6) and 4 (IQR 2-7), respectively. In general, the quality of videos sourced from professional institutions and individuals was better than that of those sourced from nonprofessionals, and videos involving disease-related knowledge were of better quality than those covering news and reports. No significant differences were found in the quality of videos uploaded by individuals from different professions, with the exception of those uploaded by traditional Chinese medicine professionals, which demonstrated poorer quality. Only video shares were positively correlated with the GQS (r=0.17, P=.01), and no video variables could predict the video quality.

Conclusions: Our study shows that the quality of short videos on health information related to liver cancer is poor on Bilibili and TikTok, but videos uploaded by health care professionals can be considered reliable in terms of comprehensiveness and content quality. Thus, short videos providing medical information on TikTok and Bilibili must be carefully considered for scientific soundness by active information seekers before they make decisions on their health care management.

Keywords: Bilibili; DISCERN; GQS; TikTok; global quality score; information quality; liver cancer; reliability; short videos; social media.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of Interest: None declared.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Search strategy for short videos on liver cancer.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Percentage of videos on liver cancer from different sources and with different contents in TikTok and Bilibili. (A) Sources of Bilibili videos. (B) Sources of TikTok videos. (C) Content types of Bilibili videos. (D) Content types of TikTok videos.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Global quality scores, DISCERN scores, and quality/reliability distributions of short videos related to liver cancer on TikTok and Bilibili. (A) Comparison of global quality scores between TikTok and Bilibili videos. (B) Proportions of different levels of video quality. (C) Comparison of DISCERN scores between TikTok and Bilibili videos. (D) Proportions of different levels of video reliability. ns: not significant at P<.05.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Global quality scores of videos related to liver cancer from different sources (A) and with different contents (B). *P<.05, **P<.01, ***P<.001.
Figure 5
Figure 5
DISCERN scores of videos related to liver cancer from different sources (A) and with different contents (B). *P<.05, **P<.01, ***P<.001.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Global quality scores and DISCERN scores of short videos related to liver cancer uploaded by different professional individuals. *P<.05.
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