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Impact of TikTok Health Education Videos on Health Knowledge among Young Adults in Nigeria

Abstract

Health knowledge is an important determinant of health behaviour, disease prevention, informed decision-making, and appropriate utilization of healthcare services among young adults. Social media platforms have increasingly become sources of health information, particularly among younger populations who frequently use short-form video content for education, entertainment, and communication. TikTok provides a platform through which health education videos can disseminate information on disease prevention, nutrition, physical activity, mental health, sexual and reproductive health, vaccination, first aid, and other health-related topics in an accessible and engaging format. However, the platform also contains inaccurate, misleading, or incomplete health information, making the quality and credibility of health education content an important public health consideration. Against this background, this study investigates the impact of TikTok health education videos on health knowledge among young adults in Nigeria. The study will be anchored on the Uses and Gratifications Theory, Health Belief Model, and Health Literacy Framework. Uses and Gratifications Theory explains how young adults actively select and use social media platforms to satisfy information, educational, entertainment, and social needs. The Health Belief Model explains how perceived susceptibility, perceived severity, perceived benefits, perceived barriers, and cues to action may influence the way young adults respond to health information encountered through social media. The Health Literacy Framework emphasizes the ability to access, understand, evaluate, and appropriately apply health information obtained from digital platforms. Collectively, these theoretical perspectives provide a suitable framework for explaining how TikTok health education videos may influence health knowledge among young adults in Nigeria. The study will adopt a quantitative quasi-experimental or analytical cross-sectional research design. The study population will comprise young adults aged 18–35 years who use TikTok and reside in selected urban and semi-urban communities across Nigeria. A multistage sampling technique will be used to select geopolitical zones, states, local government areas, communities, and eligible participants. Exposure to TikTok health education videos will be assessed using indicators such as frequency of viewing health videos, duration of exposure, topics viewed, frequency of engagement, number of health creators followed, interaction with health content, sharing or saving of health videos, perceived credibility of content, and exposure to professionally produced health education videos. Health knowledge will be assessed using indicators such as knowledge of disease prevention, healthy nutrition, physical activity, mental health, sexual and reproductive health, vaccination, infectious disease prevention, chronic disease risk factors, first aid, symptoms requiring medical attention, and appropriate healthcare-seeking. Data will be collected using structured questionnaires, standardized health-knowledge assessment tools, social-media exposure measures, and relevant digital health education records where available and appropriate. Descriptive statistics will be used to summarize participants' characteristics, TikTok use, exposure to health education videos, and health knowledge scores. Inferential statistical techniques, including chi-square tests, t-tests, correlation analysis, and logistic or multiple regression analysis where appropriate, will be used to determine the impact of TikTok health education videos on health knowledge. Where a quasi-experimental design is adopted, health knowledge scores before and after exposure to selected health education videos may be compared with those of a comparison group to determine changes associated with the intervention. Diagnostic tests will also be conducted to assess the reliability, validity, and robustness of the findings. The study is expected to find that exposure to credible TikTok health education videos has a significant positive impact on health knowledge among young adults in Nigeria. Young adults who regularly view accurate and professionally developed health education videos are expected to demonstrate higher health knowledge scores than those with limited exposure to such content. The short and visually engaging format of TikTok videos may simplify complex health concepts and improve attention, understanding, and information retention. Interactive features such as comments, questions, sharing, and follow-up videos may further facilitate discussion and clarification of health information. TikTok health education may also provide convenient access to information for young adults who may not regularly obtain health education through conventional healthcare or community platforms. However, exposure to misinformation, unqualified content creators, sensationalized health claims, algorithm-driven content, low digital health literacy, and difficulty distinguishing credible information from misleading information may reduce the effectiveness of social-media-based health education. The study therefore expects accurate, evidence-based, culturally appropriate, and professionally produced TikTok health education videos to contribute significantly to improved health knowledge among young adults in Nigeria. The study is expected to contribute to the literature on social media health education, TikTok health communication, digital health literacy, health knowledge, health promotion, young adult health, health communication, and public health in Nigeria. The findings will provide useful information to the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, Federal Ministry of Education, National Primary Health Care Development Agency, universities, public health practitioners, healthcare professionals, health communication specialists, social media content creators, development partners, and policymakers regarding the responsible use of short-form video platforms for health education. The study will also provide evidence-based recommendations for developing evidence-informed TikTok health content, strengthening collaboration between healthcare professionals and digital content creators, improving digital health literacy among young adults, promoting fact-checking of health information, and establishing strategies for reducing exposure to misleading health information on social media platforms in Nigeria.

Keywords: TikTok health education, health education videos, health knowledge, young adults, social media, digital health literacy, health communication, health promotion, health information, Nigeria, public health.