Understandability and implementability of enterostomy care short Chinese videos on TikTok and Kwai: cross-sectional content analysis study

As one of the most prevalent malignant tumours of the digestive tract, colorectal cancer poses a serious threat to human health. While enterostomy procedures offer new hope for colorectal cancer patients, they also present new challenges to their ability to manage enterostomy care. Health information on enterostomy care is widely disseminated through short-video platforms such as TikTok and Kwai, which are popular for their strong dissemination power and interactive advantages. However, the understandability and implementability of enterostomy care short videos on these platforms had not been evaluated. This study evaluated the understandability and implementability of Chinese-language short videos on TikTok and Kwai about enterostomy care. From February to April 2025, we used the Patient Education Materials Assessment Tool for Audiovisual Materials (PEMAT-A/V) to evaluate the understandability and implementability of 92 Chinese enterostomy care short videos (41 on TikTok and 51 on Kwai). We employed the Kruskal-Wallis H test, Mann-Whitney U test, and Spearman correlation analysis to explore factors potentially influencing comprehensibility and implementability. The results of the PEMAT-A/V evaluation showed that short videos on TikTok and Kwai about enterostomy care were more understandable (85.71 (71.76, 100.00) points) but poorer in implementability (66.67 (33.33, 66.67) points). Kwai was better than TikTok in terms of understandability and implementability. Short videos published by for-profit organisations (100.00 (85.71, 100.00) points), featuring live demonstrations (90.00 (85.71, 100.00) points), patient appearances (100.00 (85.71, 100.00) points), and background music (86.61 (81.37, 100.00) points) demonstrated superior understandability ( P < 0.05). Short videos featuring the patients themselves or nurses/enterostomy therapists/caregivers were more implementable ( P < 0.05). The understandability of enterostomy care short videos on TikTok and Kwai was generally satisfactory, though their implementability was suboptimal. To address issues identified during the quality assessment, targeted improvement strategies are proposed from the perspectives of creators and social media platforms. These aim to enhance both the understandability and implementability of enterostomy care short videos, thereby increasing their utility for audiences and providing a reference for creating health science popularisation short videos.