Benjamin K.P. Woo, MD, FAPA
Department of Psychiatry & Biobehavioral Science, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disease which typically develops between the ages of 55 and 65 years; over 100,000 Canadians are affected by the disease.(1) Patients and family members who are more knowledgeable about neurodegenerative disorder are more likely to recognize early symptoms and seek professional help during its onset.(2) Unfortunately, studies have revealed that Chinese immigrants are less knowledgeable about neurodegenerative disorders and are more likely to underutilize their treatment services. (3–5) Previous research has shown that health education via YouTube could be a significant outreach tool for Chinese-speaking individuals residing in English-speaking countries. (6–11) However, there is little knowledge about the performance of social media in educating the older Chinese-speaking Canadians about PD. This study sought to analyze data from a YouTube education video related to PD and its roles in delivering education to Canadian individuals who are fluent in Chinese.
The 38-min YouTube video was conducted entirely in Cantonese. It covers general PD knowledge, diagnosis, and prevention (https://youtu.be/K88rP09V0W4). The sample of this study included viewers who have watched the video during the first 18-month period, and was limited to only traffic sources from Canada. Parameters such as watch time, average view duration (avd), number of views, age and gender of viewers, traffic sources, and device types were recorded. We chose individuals entering the age group at risk for PD (i.e., aged 55 years or above) as the target age group for delivering PD knowledge.
During the 18-month period, the video was viewed 128 times, resulting in 1,828 watched minutes. The average view duration was 14.3 (37.6%) of 38 minutes. There were 59 (46.1%) male and 69 (53.9%) female viewers. The targeted age group made up 82.0% (n=105) of the total views. Suggested video by YouTube (n=60) accounted for 46.9% of traffic sources. Forty-nine (38.3%), 42 (32.8%), and 37 (28.9%) viewers watched the educational video on tablets, mobile phones, and computers, respectively. The avd on mobile devices versus computers was 14.9 versus 12.8 minutes, respectively.
Our findings suggest that YouTube could be a cost-effective, readily available, and widely distributed media for disseminating PD knowledge to Chinese Canadians. Social media will continue to gain prominence in the education of patients, particularly for Chinese-speaking Canadians with language and cultural barriers to traditional care. The number of viewers and average view duration on mobile devices point to further studies to assess the effectiveness of mHealth in disease education for Chinese-speaking Canadians. As viewers only watched approximately 38% of the duration of this video, the PD education video content would need to be condensed to further engage and retain audience. Particularly for this video, culturally tailored PD case studies should be incorporated in the first 10 minutes to educate the older Chinese-speaking Canadians about PD.
1 Rizek P, Kumar N, Jog MS. An update on the diagnosis and treatment of Parkinson disease. CMAJ. 2016;188(16):1157–65.
2 Tsiang JT, Woo BK. Comparison of online dementia information in Chinese and in English languages. Cureus. 2017;9(10):e1808.
3 Ho EY, Woo BK. Dementia knowledge and information seeking of Chinese Americans. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2013;61(4):647–48.
4 Woo BK. Dementia health promotion for Chinese Americans. Cureus. 2017;9(6):e1411.
5 Woo BK, Mehta P. Examining the differences in the stigma of dementia and diabetes among Chinese Americans. Geriatr Gerontol Int. 2017;17(5):760–64.
6 Zheng X, Chung JO, Woo BK. Exploring the impact of a culturally tailored short film in modifying dementia stigma among Chinese Americans: A pilot study. Acad Psychiatry. 2016;40(2):372–74.
7 Lam NH, Tsiang JT, Woo BK. Exploring the role of YouTube in disseminating psychoeducation. Acad Psychiatry. 2017;41(6):819–22.
8 Zheng X, Woo BK. E-mental health in ethnic minority: a comparison of youtube and talk-based educational workshops in dementia. Asian J Psychiatr. 2017;25:246–48.
9 Woo BK, Chung JO. Using YouTube analytics to evaluate a Chinese video-based lecture regarding Parkinson’s disease. J Clin Neurosci. 2018;50:300.
10 Lam NH, Woo BK. Exploring the role of YouTube in delivering dementia education to older Chinese. Asian J Psychiatr. 2018;31:25–26.
11 Woo BK, Kung E. A YouTube video intervention as mHealth to promote first-episode psychosis education to Chinese. Asian J Psychiatr. 2018;33:38–39.
Published under the CreativeCommons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 License. ( Return to Text )
Canadian Geriatrics Journal, Vol. 21, No. 4, December 2018