Objective: Determine what parents of children with cleft lip and palate value in online educational videos and evaluate whether their needs are currently being met.
Design: Focus groups and telephone interviews were used to define parent information needs, followed by an evaluation of whether currently available YouTube videos meet these needs.
Setting: British Columbia Children's Hospital multidisciplinary cleft clinic.
Participants: Twenty-four parents of children with nonsyndromic cleft lip and palate.
Results: Parents desired videos that are accessible, trustworthy, relatable, and positive. Parents preferred a series of short videos addressing relevant topics as their child grows. Currently available YouTube videos only partially met these needs, with underrepresented topics including hearing, dentition, and surgeries for older children.
Conclusions: While access and validity of video resources can be improved by directing patients and families to appropriate videos, some parent needs remain unmet.
Keywords: YouTube; cleft lip and palate; health education; needs assessment; orofacial cleft.