College Students’ Perceived Credibility of Health Information on YouTube

ABSTRACT This work‐in‐progress study explores users' perceived credibility of health‐related YouTube videos and proposes a credibility evaluation framework consisting of twelve criteria across four levels: source, content, creator, and interaction. College students who use YouTube for health information were invited to participate in an online survey. A pilot study was carried out with a small sample size. The findings from the pilot study showed that participants frequently accessed health videos, mainly for specific diseases, treatments, mental health, nutrition, and fitness. There were statistically significant associations between source and interaction, as well as source and creator. Further analyses with a larger sample size will be performed and reported at the 2023 ASIS&T annual meeting. We believe the findings from this study could enhance the understanding of users' attitudes and behaviors of seeking and sharing health information on YouTube.