Exploring the optimal duration of video recording in a post-discharge eLearning platform for cardiac patients

Abstract

Background: On a post-discharge eLearning platform for patients with coronary artery disease, videos are used as the main educational media. Medical content takes a long time to be thoroughly explained, frequently exceeding the viewer’s attention span. To find the optimal duration for such an educational video, we studied the retention of video watching. Methods: In this study, 135 (88% male; age 62±9 years) patients with coronary artery disease actively used eLearning platform which included 60 video recordings with duration ranging from 21 sec to 303 sec. The videos were divided into two groups based on their duration (short < 100 sec and long > 100 sec). From the platform usage metadata, an average video retention rate was obtained as a ratio of video viewing time and total video duration for videos watched six times or more. Independent t-tests for mean values and f-test for variance were used to compare the groups. Results: In total, 35 (18 short and 17 long) videos were included in the study and were viewed (mean ± SD) 22 ± 11 times. The mean duration of short videos was: 80 sec ± 14 sec and of long videos it was: 160 sec ± 51 sec. The retention rate in the short and long group was 0.99 ± 0.05 and 0.94 ± 0.19 respectively. Average values were not signi­ficantly different (P = 0.33), but variances were (P < 0.05). Conclusions: This study shows that the effective attention span for a video recording of this kind, based on an eLearning set-up and local population, is up to 100 sec. Videos shorter than 100sec are mostly watched fully without a break. In contrast, longer videos are often rewound, and parts watched again or not watched to the full length at all.