Peaceful Death in Japanese YouTube Videos: Content and Network Analysis

Background: Death is a difficult topic to discuss for many. Notwithstanding, there is much to learn regarding the contemporary Japanese people's views on a good (peaceful) death. Particularly, shifts in public perceptions of death following the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic should be considered by health care staff who deliver end-of-life care. Objective: This study examined the recent representations of peaceful death in Japanese YouTube videos to understand related narratives and family structures. Methods: We examined 457 YouTube videos about peaceful death using content and family network analyses. The videos were classified into 3 groups: ordinary people, celebrities, and fictional characters. Results: We identified emerging medical actors who discussed end-of-life with the public. Death portrayed or discussed in the videos mostly involved adults aged 18 to 59 years (179/501, 36% ages), and the most common narrative was illness (101/839, 12% narratives). Although the most common religious stance was nonreligious (304/532, 57.14% religious stances), videos of regular people tended to mention or show a religious practice or symbol (154/272, 56.61% religious stances). There were significant differences (F2, 454=22.81, P