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Publication · The Science of Diabetes Self-Management and Care · 2026

Exploring the quality of TikTok-based diabetes self-management education in English and Spanish

Diaz, L., Tolentino, D. A., Brecht, M.-L., Robbins, W., & Choi, S. (2026).

DiabetesDigital healthContent analysis
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The big idea

People increasingly learn about diabetes from TikTok, so the quality of that content matters, especially in Spanish.

Who
Diabetes education videos on TikTok (English and Spanish)
How
Quality assessment of social media content
What we learned
How trustworthy popular diabetes videos are

In plain language

This study reviewed diabetes advice on TikTok in English and Spanish to see how accurate and trustworthy it is, since many people now turn to social media for health information.

About this study

Formal diabetes education reaches very few people, and Hispanic adults face a higher burden of type 2 diabetes, so many turn to social media to learn. This study assessed the quality of TikTok-based diabetes self-management education in both English and Spanish.

The findings show how reliable popular content is, and where gaps exist for Spanish-speaking audiences who may be underserved by trustworthy information.

Key themes

1

Where people learn

Many turn to TikTok for diabetes information.

2

Quality check

Assessed the accuracy and quality of English and Spanish videos.

3

Language access

Spotlights gaps for Spanish-speaking audiences.