Assessment of videos
All videos were viewed and evaluated by 2 reviewers (O.Ü. and E.Ç.) independently. In case of disagreement in scoring and analysis among reviewers, a consensus meeting was held, and a joint decision was reached. The number of views, number of likes and dislikes, total video duration (in seconds), date of upload and number of comments were recorded for the determination of descriptive data. Viewer interactions were calculated with the interaction index ([number of likes – number of dislikes] / total number of views * 100%), viewing rate (number of views / number of days since upload * 100%) and video power index (number of likes / [number of likes+number of dislikes] * 100%) formulas [11, 12].
We categorized all videos as healthcare professionals, hospital/university, commercial, layperson or other according to the source of upload. We also categorized the type of videos as educational (videos aimed to provide educational information about vertigo) or testimonial (videos containing personal experiences about vertigo).
The videos were evaluated according to their informational content on the following 9 items: (1) definition of vertigo; (2) etiology or pathophysiology of vertigo; (3) symptoms; (4) types of vertigo; (5) diagnosis; (6) maneuvers; (7) treatment; (8) alarm symptoms; and (9) prognosis. Each item was given 1 point and the total content score of a video was calculated to be a maximum of 9 points as the sum of these 9 items. Videos with a total content score of 0-4 points were defined as low content, while those with a score of 5-9 points were defined as high content. We used the Global Quality Scale (GQS), a validated quality measurement scale, to assess the quality of the videos. GQS is a 5-point Likert scale used to measure the overall quality of the information and how useful the videos would be to the patients, with 5 representing excellent quality (very useful for patients) and 1 representing poor quality (most information missing, not useful for patients) [13]. In addition, the reliability of information was assessed using the modified DISCERN tool, which is a 5-item questionnaire, with a possible score range of 0-5 points (higher scores indicating higher reliability) [14].
This study did not require approval by the ethics committee since it was used only publicly available data.