Name: Biases in algorithms hurt those looking for information on health
Brand: theconversation.com
SKU: theconversation-com-147
Availability: OnlineOnly

critic

Biases in algorithms hurt those looking for information on health

preview

provides funding as a founding partner of The Conversation US.YouTube hosts millions of videos related to health care.The Health Information National Trends Survey reports that first when looking for information about health or medical topics. YouTube is one of the most , with billions of views every day, and has emerged as a .Several , have invested resources in YouTube as a channel for health communication. Patients with chronic health conditions especially rely on social media, including YouTube videos, to learn more about how to manage their conditions.But video recommendations on such sites could exacerbate preexisting disparities in health.A significant fraction of the U.S. population is estimated to have , or the capacity to obtain, process and understand basic health information, such as the ability to read and comprehend prescription bottles, appointment slips or discharge instructions from health clinics.the National Assessment of Adult Literacy conducted in 2003, estimated that only 12% of adults had proficient health literacy skills. This has been .I’m a , and has examined how social media platforms such as YouTube widen such health literacy disparities by steering users toward questionable content.Extracting thousands of videos purporting to be about diabetes, I verified whether the information shown conforms to valid medical guidelines.I found that are significantly less likely to have medically valid information.Users typically encounter videos on health conditions through keyword searches on YouTube. YouTube then provides links to authenticated medical information, such as the top-ranked results. Several of these are produced by reputable health organizations.[Deep knowledge, daily. .]Recently, YouTube has adjusted how search results are displayed, allowing results to be ranked by “” and providing .However, when to watch the videos and rate them on whether these would be considered valid and understandable from a patient education perspective, they rated YouTube’s recommendations poorly.I found that the most popular videos are the ones that tend to have easily understandable information but are not always medically valid. A study on the most popular videos on COVID-19 likewise found that a quarter of videos did not contain .This is because the algorithms underlying recommendations on social media platforms are biased toward engagement and popularity.Based on how digital platforms provide information to search queries, a user with greater health literacy is more likely to discover usable medical advice from a reputed health care provider, such as the Mayo Clinic. The same algorithm will steer a less literate user toward fake cures or misleading medical advice.This could be especially harmful for minority groups. Studies of health literacy in the United States have found that the impact of limited health literacy .We do not have enough studies on the state of health literacy among . That makes it challenging to design health communication aimed at minorities, and interventions to improve the utilization of existing health care resources.There can also be cultural barriers regarding that exacerbate the literacy barriers. Insufficient education and lack of self-management of chronic care have also been .Correcting algorithmic biases and providing better information to users of technology platforms would go a long way in promoting equity.For example, a pioneering study by the examined disparities in identifying gender and skin type across different companies that provide commercial facial recognition software. It concluded that companies were able to once issues were pointed out.According to some estimates, over a billion health questions everyday. Especially those with low health literacy have a substantial risk of encountering medically unsubstantiated information, such as or that are not based on scientific evidence.The World Economic Forum has dubbed health-related misinformation an “.” Digital platforms to misinformation, accentuating disparities in health literacy, as my own work shows.Social media and search companies have partnered with health organizations such as the Mayo Clinic to . To make health information on YouTube more equitable, those who would have to incorporate feedback from clinicians and patients .Write an article and join a growing community of more than 152,000 academics and researchers from 4,476 institutions.

provides funding as a founding partner of The Conversation US.YouTube hosts millions of videos related to health care.The Health Information National Trends Survey reports that first when looking for information about health or medical topics. YouTube is one of the most , with billions of views every day, and has emerged as a .Several , have invested resources in YouTube as a channel for health communication. Patients with chronic health conditions especially rely on social media, including YouTube videos, to learn more about how to manage their conditions.But video recommendations on such...

public

Professor of Responsible #AI at Michigan State; she/hers; tweets purely personal, @asusarla@mastodon.social

Anjana Susarla

Independent news website. Only publishes articles written by academics and researchers. No paywall, no ads. #weneedexperts

Biases in algorithms hurt those looking for information on health

No article scores yet.

CRITIC REVIEWS

PUBLIC REVIEWS