The content quality and educational significance of early childhood caries on short video platforms

Abstract Background Early clinical screening and prevention can reduce the incidence and severity of early childhood caries (ECC). With the development of social media, TikTok and Douyin were used as important tools for ECC popularization and early screening. The purpose of this study was to evaluat...

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Main Authors: Ming-Na Huang, Hong Lu, Ming-Yue Huang, Cai-Yu Li, Yue-Mei Zheng, Dan Wang, Shi-Jun Tang
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: BMC 2025-05-01
Series:BMC Public Health
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Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-025-22962-3
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author Ming-Na Huang
Hong Lu
Ming-Yue Huang
Cai-Yu Li
Yue-Mei Zheng
Dan Wang
Shi-Jun Tang
author_facet Ming-Na Huang
Hong Lu
Ming-Yue Huang
Cai-Yu Li
Yue-Mei Zheng
Dan Wang
Shi-Jun Tang
author_sort Ming-Na Huang
collection DOAJ
description Abstract Background Early clinical screening and prevention can reduce the incidence and severity of early childhood caries (ECC). With the development of social media, TikTok and Douyin were used as important tools for ECC popularization and early screening. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the educational impact from the integrity, accuracy and quality of ECC-related short videos on TikTok and Douyin. Methods We searched for short videos related to ECC on the mobile application TikTok and Douyin on April 15, 2024. The search keywords were as follows: “Early childhood caries” on TikTok in both English and Japanese, and Chinese search on Douyin. The first 100 short videos were selected as samples for each group. we applied an instrument called DISCERN, which consisted of 3 sections and a total of 16 questions to evaluate the quality of each short video, and used a checklist to rate the content of videos. The accuracy of the content was evaluated based on the Children's Caries Risk Assessment and Management Guidelines. Results A total of 115 short videos were assessed for the useful information quality of ECC, including 78 Chinese, 26 English, and 11 Japanese. The score for the content quality of short videos showed that each of the three groups assigned the highest scores to the sections on symptoms and treatment, with Chinese short videos achieving the top ratings. The DISCERN scores for useful short videos in each group were 33.10 ± 3.49 in Chinese, 29.54 ± 2.37 in English, and 28.27 ± 2.61 in Japanese, respectively. Compared with English and Japanese videos, Chinese videos had the highest DISCERN score with significant differences (p < 0.05). Meanwhile, in Chinese short videos, healthcare professionals or organizations uploaded videos with higher DISCERN scores, which were more comprehensive and extensive than those uploaded by private users. Conclusions It is necessary for more healthcare professionals and institutions to join in to improve the quality of content on short video platforms and solve more health problems for patients through short videos.
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spelling doaj-art-55280c2d7eb9475ca5bc7cea8378feac2025-08-20T03:53:14ZengBMCBMC Public Health1471-24582025-05-0125111010.1186/s12889-025-22962-3The content quality and educational significance of early childhood caries on short video platformsMing-Na Huang0Hong Lu1Ming-Yue Huang2Cai-Yu Li3Yue-Mei Zheng4Dan Wang5Shi-Jun Tang6Department of Pediatric Dentistry, The Affiliated Stomatological Hospital of Guizhou Medical UniversityDepartment of Pediatric Dentistry, The Affiliated Stomatological Hospital of Guizhou Medical UniversityCollege of Data Science and Information Engineering, Guizhou Minzu UniversityDepartment of Pediatric Dentistry, The Affiliated Stomatological Hospital of Guizhou Medical UniversityDepartment of Pediatric Dentistry, The Affiliated Stomatological Hospital of Guizhou Medical UniversityDepartment of Pediatric Dentistry, The Affiliated Stomatological Hospital of Guizhou Medical UniversityDepartment of Pediatric Dentistry, The Affiliated Stomatological Hospital of Guizhou Medical UniversityAbstract Background Early clinical screening and prevention can reduce the incidence and severity of early childhood caries (ECC). With the development of social media, TikTok and Douyin were used as important tools for ECC popularization and early screening. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the educational impact from the integrity, accuracy and quality of ECC-related short videos on TikTok and Douyin. Methods We searched for short videos related to ECC on the mobile application TikTok and Douyin on April 15, 2024. The search keywords were as follows: “Early childhood caries” on TikTok in both English and Japanese, and Chinese search on Douyin. The first 100 short videos were selected as samples for each group. we applied an instrument called DISCERN, which consisted of 3 sections and a total of 16 questions to evaluate the quality of each short video, and used a checklist to rate the content of videos. The accuracy of the content was evaluated based on the Children's Caries Risk Assessment and Management Guidelines. Results A total of 115 short videos were assessed for the useful information quality of ECC, including 78 Chinese, 26 English, and 11 Japanese. The score for the content quality of short videos showed that each of the three groups assigned the highest scores to the sections on symptoms and treatment, with Chinese short videos achieving the top ratings. The DISCERN scores for useful short videos in each group were 33.10 ± 3.49 in Chinese, 29.54 ± 2.37 in English, and 28.27 ± 2.61 in Japanese, respectively. Compared with English and Japanese videos, Chinese videos had the highest DISCERN score with significant differences (p < 0.05). Meanwhile, in Chinese short videos, healthcare professionals or organizations uploaded videos with higher DISCERN scores, which were more comprehensive and extensive than those uploaded by private users. Conclusions It is necessary for more healthcare professionals and institutions to join in to improve the quality of content on short video platforms and solve more health problems for patients through short videos.https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-025-22962-3Early childhood cariesShort videoPublic healthQuality evaluation
spellingShingle Ming-Na Huang
Hong Lu
Ming-Yue Huang
Cai-Yu Li
Yue-Mei Zheng
Dan Wang
Shi-Jun Tang
The content quality and educational significance of early childhood caries on short video platforms
BMC Public Health
Early childhood caries
Short video
Public health
Quality evaluation
title The content quality and educational significance of early childhood caries on short video platforms
title_full The content quality and educational significance of early childhood caries on short video platforms
title_fullStr The content quality and educational significance of early childhood caries on short video platforms
title_full_unstemmed The content quality and educational significance of early childhood caries on short video platforms
title_short The content quality and educational significance of early childhood caries on short video platforms
title_sort content quality and educational significance of early childhood caries on short video platforms
topic Early childhood caries
Short video
Public health
Quality evaluation
url https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-025-22962-3
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