"I Feel Like A Neurotic Mother at Times"-a mixed methods study exploring online health information seeking behaviour in new parents

A meta-Ethnography on Parents' Experiences of the Internet As a Source of Health Information

The Internet is increasingly being used as a health information resource. This meta-ethnography aimed to synthesize the literature on how parents of children aged below 5 years' experienced using the Internet for health information purposes. We employed an interpretive meta-synthesis approach-meta-ethnography-according to Noblit & Hare's seven phases. A total of 22 articles met the inclusion criteria, representing four continents and with 650 participants, mainly mothers. We analysed and synthesized the primary studies into the following lines-of-argument synthesis representing a novel conceptual understanding of the phenomenon: Parents experience the Internet as "A cyber partner for child caring" being a 24/7 available "go-to" among other confined sources. Parents find ways of "patching together" trustworthy information in solicitude for their child's health while navigating between trust and anxiety. They relate online and share their experiences and secrets without being rejected. Clinicians and parents may benefit from "partnering" with this resource.

Understanding cyberchondria in pregnant women: longitudinal assessment of risk factors, triggers, and outcomes

Pregnancy often triggers anxiety and health concerns in women, leading many to search for health information online. Excessive, compulsive, and repetitive online health research, accompanied by heightened anxiety, can result in cyberchondria. This study aimed to explore the risk factors, triggers, and outcomes of cyberchondria in pregnant women. A total of 149 participants completed an online questionnaire longitudinally across three stages of pregnancy: early (14-19 weeks), mid (24-29 weeks), and late pregnancy (34-39 weeks). The findings revealed that health anxiety and the cognitive component of anxiety sensitivity are risk factors for cyberchondria during pregnancy. Pregnancy concerns related to motherhood emerged as triggers for cyberchondria. While a connection between cyberchondria and fear of birth was observed, fear of birth did not appear to be a direct outcome of cyberchondria. These results highlight the importance of addressing health anxiety, cognitive anxiety sensitivity and motherhood concerns in prenatal care and support interventions. Understanding the factors contributing to cyberchondria in pregnant women can assist healthcare professionals in providing targeted support and resources to mitigate excessive online health searching behaviors and alleviate anxiety during pregnancy.

Is There a Relationship Between Online Health Information Seeking and Health Anxiety? A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

The internet has revolutionized how we live, providing unprecedented convenience and up-to-date information. Consequently, an increasing number of individuals are turning to the internet for health-related information, despite research suggesting a correlation between this behavior and health anxiety. Therefore, drawing on cognitive - behavioral theory, we explore the link between online health information seeking and health anxiety via a systematic review and meta-analysis of cross-sectional studies. Following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analysis, we ran searches in multiple databases, including PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, Elsevier/Science Direct, Cochrane Database, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, VIP Chinese Database, and Wanfang Data. Our searches identified 16 studies eligible for review, involving 4,920 participants across seven countries. The random-effects meta-analysis revealed a significant positive correlation between online health information seeking and health anxiety (r = 0.28, 95% confidence interval [0.16, 0.41], p < .0001), despite considerable heterogeneity. Furthermore, meta-regression analysis demonstrated that the identity characteristics of the sample, female percentage, sample size, and country all contributed to the heterogeneity across studies. Overall, this meta-analysis provides support for the association between online health information seeking and health anxiety, and helps to elucidate the cognitive - behavioral theory underpinning this phenomenon.

Internet-based parenting intervention: A systematic review

Digital technology has become an essential part of people's lives, and the Internet's innovation made it easier for humans to carry out activities. This systematic review aims to examine parenting with a specific internet-based intervention designed to help them gain information about child-rearing. Specifically, it analyses: 1) how the internet-based parenting intervention is studied, 2) how was the study of an internet-based parenting intervention done, and 3) what themes emerged from the systematic review. The finding suggests that most internet-based parenting interventions use transmitting information techniques visually, as the content is displayed through exciting and informative content. Four themes emerged from the thematic analysis: technology-assisted parenting programs, parenting interventions as support for mothers, professional support online, and improved parenting skills. Positive responses from parents as users show that this online parenting intervention can meet their needs and has the potential to continue to be developed. The literature is quite limited regarding assessing internet-based parenting intervention in early childhood education and developmental psychology. Because of that, further research to develop internet-based parenting interventions becomes essential to give parenting professional support.

'Putting all my eggs into the app': Self, relational and systemic surveillance of mothers' use of digital technologies during the transition to parenting

This paper builds on thematic findings from a larger study that explored how digital technologies (e.g. smartphones, apps, search engines) shape expectant and new mothers' early parenting practices. An overarching theme that arose across these mothers' experiences which deserved deeper exploration was relational digital surveillance. In the context of this paper, relational digital surveillance describes how mothers evaluate their sense of preparedness, goodness or suitability for motherhood as they transition into parenting in relation to: their own use of digital technologies when caring for their pregnant bodies (self-surveillance), partners' and family members' commentary and/or judgement regarding their use of digital technologies to support their parenting and decision-making (familial surveillance) in addition to service/health care providers' commentary and/or judgement concerning their technology use (systemic surveillance). Mothers' use of digital technologies in this study not only provided others (partners, family members, health care providers) with means to watch over their actions and bodies as they transitioned into motherhood but offered a new evaluative dimension for others to scrutinize their behaviour as a new mother. Such understandings of relational digital surveillance within the transition to parenting context raise critical questions concerning the promotion and commercialization of digital self-surveillance technologies among expectant/new parents given the ways these technologies can further push the boundaries of hegemonic mothering practices and contribute to feelings of inadequacy and self-doubt. Alternatively, these insights offer avenues where health care providers can intervene to facilitate activities that enhance digital health literacy skills and mitigate parents' exposure to platforms that amplify anxieties.

"Let me know when I'm needed": Exploring the gendered nature of digital technology use for health information seeking during the transition to parenting

This paper presents results of a qualitative descriptive study conducted to understand parents’ experiences with digital technologies during their transition to parenting (i.e. the period from pre-conception through postpartum). Individuals in southwest Ontario who had become a new parent within the previous 24 months were recruited to participate in a focus group or individual interview. Participants were asked to describe the type of technologies they/their partner used during their transition to parenthood, and how such technologies were used to support their own and their family's health. Focus group and interview transcripts were then subjected to thematic analysis using inductive coding. Ten focus groups and three individual interviews were conducted with 26 heterosexual female participants. Participants primarily used digital technologies to: (1) seek health information for a variety of reproductive health issues, and (2) establish social and emotional connections. The nature of such health information work was markedly gendered and was categorized by 2 dominant themes. First, “‘Let me know when I’m needed’”, characterizes fathers’ apparent avoidance of health information seeking and resultant creation of mothers as lay information mediaries. Second, “Information Curation”, captures participants’ belief that gender biases built-in to popular parenting apps and resources reified the gendered nature of health and health information work during the transition to parenting. Overall, findings indicate that digital technology tailored to new and expecting parents actively reinforced gender norms regarding health information seeking, which creates undue burden on new mothers to become the sole health information seeker and interpreter for their family.

Factors associated with media use for parenting information: A cross-sectional study among parents of children aged 0-8 years

Aim

Media use may strengthen parents’ capacities to deal with parenting issues. This study examined which factors are associated with media use for parenting information.

Design

Cross‐sectional data of 658 parents of children aged 0–8 years, gathered in the CIKEO cohort study in the Netherlands, were analysed.

Methods

Multivariable logistic regression models were used to examine which factors were associated with media use for parenting information.

Results

The mean age of the participants was 33.8 years (SD = 5.0); 94.7% were mothers; 77.4% used media for parenting information. Parents with more questions or concerns (OR: 1.40, 95% CI: 1.23, 1.59), and parents who received parenting information from their social contacts (OR: 5.57, 95% CI: 3.22, 9.61), had higher odds of media use for parenting information. Older parents (OR: 0.95, 95% CI: 0.91, 1.00), and parents of older children (OR: 0.84, 95% CI: 0.74, 0.95), had lower odds of media use for parenting information.

Fussy eating in toddlers: A content analysis of parents' online support seeking

The development of healthy eating habits in childhood is essential to reducing later risk of obesity. However, many parents manage fussy eating in toddlerhood with ineffective feeding practices that limit children's dietary variety and reinforce obesogenic eating behaviours. Understanding parents' feeding concerns and support needs may assist in the development of feeding interventions designed to support parents' uptake of responsive feeding practices. A total of 130 original posts by parents of toddlers (12-36 months) were extracted from the online website Reddit's 'r/Toddlers' community discussion forum over a 12-month period. Qualitative content analysis was used to categorise the fussy eating topics that parents were most concerned about and the types of support they were seeking from online peers. The most frequently raised fussy eating concerns were refusal to eat foods offered, inadequate intake (quantity and quality), problematic mealtime behaviours and changes in eating patterns. Parents were primarily seeking practical support (69.2%) to manage emergent fussy eating behaviours. This consisted of requests for practical feeding advice and strategies or meal ideas. Nearly half of parents sought emotional support (47.7%) to normalise their child's eating behaviour and seek reassurance from people with lived experience. Informational support about feeding was sought to a lesser extent (16.2%). Fussy eating poses a barrier to children's dietary variety and establishing healthy eating habits. These results suggest parents require greater knowledge and skills on 'how to feed' children and support to manage feeding expectations. Health professionals and child feeding interventions should focus on providing parents with practical feeding strategies to manage fussy eating. Supporting parents to adopt and maintain responsive feeding practices is vital to developing healthy eating habits during toddlerhood that will continue throughout adulthood.