Investigation of Digital Technology Use in the Transition to Parenting: Qualitative Study

Parental practices and perspectives on health and digital technology use information seeking for children aged 0-36 months

BACKGROUND

Parents commonly seek information to support the health and well-being of their children. The increasing availability of health information online and social changes related to the COVID-19 pandemic may have changed what information is sought, from whom, where, and why. This qualitative study explored parents' practices and perspectives on seeking health and digital technology use information for their young children.

METHODS

Twenty parents, living in Australia (7 rural, 3 remote, and 10 metropolitan), with children aged 0-36 months completed a semi-structured interview.

RESULTS

Parents commonly turned to friends and family and online sources to access health information for their young children. For all types of health information, including digital technology use, themes were identified surrounding aspects of information sources participants valued and accessibility of health services. Perceived credibility and trustworthiness, relatability with other parents, ease of accessibility and convenience, and actionable, bite-sized information were valued. Reduced accessibility to health services due to COVID-19 and geographical location, and need for agency in managing their child's health influenced parents' choice of source of information. Few participants actively sought information about digital technology use for their young child, with the main focus on screen time.

CONCLUSION

Interactions with family and friends and online sources are important to parents when accessing health information for their child. Parents valued information sources which they considered trustworthy, credible, and relatable, as well as easily accessible and convenient. SO WHAT?: Dissemination of health information reflecting these values may empower parents during this early stage of parenthood.

A Cross-Sectional Descriptive Analysis of Speech, Hearing, and Feeding in YouTube Videos: A Brief Communication

OBJECTIVE

Healthcare information on YouTube is often inaccurate or insufficient. However, parents turn to social media for answers about their children's health conditions. Understanding the nature of content in specified scope of practice areas can help professionals clarify misinformation or utilize quality YouTube content in clinical context. This research examined: (1) meta-data and upload source; (2) understandability and actionability; and (3) content quality and clinical utility of YouTube videos related to speech, hearing, and feeding with children with cleft lip and palate (CLP).

DESIGN

A cross-sectional design was used.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S)

Videos related to speech, hearing, and feeding with children with CLP were obtained. Meta-data and upload source were identified. The Patient Education Material Assessment Tool-AudioVisual (PEMAT-AV) was used to assess understandability and actionability. The DISCERN instrument was used to evaluate content quality. Responses to open-ended questions were used to evaluate clinical utility.

RESULTS

Of 652 videos reviewed for potential inclusion, only 33 met the inclusion criteria. Of those, only 17 met adequate levels of both understandability and actionability. Results of DISCERN indicated that the videos were of fair quality. Analysis of clinical utility indicated that none of the videos should be used as stand-alone parent education materials.

CONCLUSIONS

Videos pertaining to speech, hearing and feeding issues are not viewed as frequently as videos addressing other areas of CLP. Our findings are consistent with previous reports that the videos related to CLP may be limited in their clinical utility. Professionals are needed to interpret the offerings and guide families to appropriate videos.

An investigation of mHealth and digital health literacy among new parents during COVID-19

Introduction

Especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, parents were expected to understand increasingly sophisticated information about health issues and healthcare systems and access online resources as a part of their caregiving role. Yet little is known about parents' online digital technology use and digital health literacy skill. This study aimed to investigate parents' digital technology use, their self-reported digital health literacy skill, and demographic information as potential factors influencing their use of digital technologies.

Methods

An online survey utilizing convenience sampling was administered to new parents during the COVID-19 pandemic that inquired about their demographic information, digital technology use, and digital health literacy skills within Ontario, Canada.

Results

A total of 151 individuals responded to the survey; these were primarily mothers (80%) who self-reported as white (72%), well-educated 86%), heterosexual (86%) females (85%) with incomes over $100,00 per year (48%). Participants reported consistent and persistent online activity related to their parenting role and mostly via mobile smartphone devices (92%). Participants had moderate to high digital health literacy skills, greater than the Canadian national average. Almost half of participants reported negative health and well-being consequences from their digital online behaviours. There were no significant relationships between technology use, digital health literacy skill, and demographic variables.

Discussion

The COVID-19 pandemic has reinforced the need for and importance of effective and equitable digital health services. Important opportunities exist within clinical practice and among parenting groups to proactively address the physical and mental health implications of digital parenting practices. Equally important are opportunities to insert into clinical workflow the inquiry into parents' online information-seeking behaviours, and to include digital health literacy as part of prenatal/postnatal health education initiatives.

Understanding the Tensions of "Good Motherhood" Through Women's Digital Technology Use: Descriptive Qualitative Study

BACKGROUND

Research suggests that expectant and new mothers consult and value information gathered from digital technologies, such as pregnancy-specific mobile apps and social media platforms, to support their transition to parenting. Notably, this transitional context can be rich with profound physiological, psychological, and emotional fluctuation for women as they cope with the demands of new parenting and navigate the cultural expectations of "good motherhood." Given the ways in which digital technologies can both support and hinder women's perceptions of their parenting abilities, understanding expectant and new mothers' experiences using digital technologies and the tensions that may arise from such use during the transition to parenting period warrants nuanced exploration.

OBJECTIVE

This study aims to understand mothers' use of digital technologies during the transition to parenting period.

METHODS

A descriptive qualitative study was conducted in a predominantly urban region of Southwestern Ontario, Canada. Purposive and snowball sampling strategies were implemented to recruit participants who had become a parent within the previous 24 months. Researchers conducted focus groups using a semistructured interview guide with 26 women. The interviews were audio recorded, transcribed, and thematically analyzed.

RESULTS

Participants' experiences of using digital technologies in the transition to parenting period were captured within the overarching theme "balancing the tensions of digital technology use in the transition to parenting" and 4 subthemes: self-comparison on social media, second-guessing parenting practices, communities of support, and trusting intuition over technology. Although digital technologies purportedly offered "in-the-moment" access to community support and health information, this came at a cost to mothers, as they described feelings of guilt, shame, and self-doubt that provoked them to question and hold in contention whether they were a good mother and using technology in a morally upright manner.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings raise critical questions concerning the promotion and commercialization of digital technologies and the ways in which they can further push the boundaries of hegemonic parenting practices, provoke feelings of inadequacy, and compromise well-being among expectant and new mothers.

Healthcare professionals' perceptions of a digital parental support, Childbirth Journey, constructed as a serious game—An intervention study

Background

Globally, the digital sources developed and available in antenatal care differ, and infrastructure challenges may impede the further development of such sources. Challenges accompanying digital developments can include the commonly occurring high workload, which affects healthcare professionals' ability to acquire professional knowledge about how to best support parents in using digital sources. Including healthcare professionals in the development process of digital sources may increase the likelihood that such sources will be adopted and employed by these professionals in their future care work. Therefore, the present research explored healthcare professionals' perceptions of the digital support intervention Childbirth Journey, which was constructed as a serious game for expectant parents.

Methods

Data were collected through semi-structured focus-group interviews with 11 midwives at antenatal, labour and postnatal clinics as well as with child healthcare nurses. Prior to the interviews, all participants were provided the intervention, Childbirth Journey, which is a serious game in a mobile application format consisting of two distinct parts: (1) a story-driven game and (2) a Knowledge Portal. The data were analysed using phenomenographic methods.

Results

The perceptions of Childbirth Journey by healthcare professionals, midwives and child healthcare nurses are presented in four descriptive categories: extended professional support, trustworthy contents, diversity or individuality, and both appealing and in need of development.

Conclusions

Current study revealed that Childbirth Journey may be utilised as a digital support for parents, allowing healthcare professionals to offer a digital solution as a complementary support to standard, face-to-face meetings with caregivers. However, the research results also revealed that some elements of Childbirth Journey must be improved, thereby representing a main contribution of this study: insights into how to better develop digital tools under the umbrella of health care. Thus, we conclude that in order to create sustainable and safe digital care solutions that function as trustworthy professional supports instead of technical products that risk harming users, the perspectives of both patients and healthcare professionals should be considered in the exploration and development of these solutions.

Factors associated with skin-to-skin contact less than 180 min/day in newborns weighing up to 1,800 g: multicenter study

This article aims to evaluate the factors associated with a skin-to-skin contact time <180 min/day in newborns weighing up to 1,800 g during neonatal hospitalization. Prospective observational cohort study conducted in neonatal units of reference for the Kangaroo Method in Brazil. Data from 405 dyads (mother/child) were analyzed from May 2018 to March 2020. Maternal and neonatal explanatory variables were collected from medical records and interviews. Skin-to-skin contact was recorded in forms posted at the bedside, filled out by parents and staff. The outcome variable was the mean time of skin-to-skin contact < 180 min/day. Hierarchical modeling was performed by Poisson regression with robust variance. The variables associated with the outcome were "without easy access to the hospital", "without previous knowledge of the kangaroo method" and "having had morbidities during pregnancy". Mothers without easy access to the hospital and who are unaware of the kangaroo method should be priority targets for health policies to develop strategies that promote greater exposure to skin-to-skin contact during the hospitalization period of their children.

'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.

Expectant, anxious and excited: the information journey of Chinese first-time mothers

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to explore the information needs and behaviors of Chinese first-time mothers from the perspective of information journey theory.

Design/methodology/approach

This study uses the popular coding language Python to write a program to extract 366 posts published by first-time mothers in the Babytree community of China's largest maternal and infant platform. Content analysis is used to analyze and encode the collected data.

Findings

This study summarizes the information needs of first-time mothers in China specifically, which includes six aspects of health, pregnancy care, postpartum parenting, socialization, self-actualization, and entertainment. Then, based on its hierarchical and stage characteristics, more flexible information needs matrix for Chinese first-time mothers has been developed to reflect their changing 15 types of information needs more fully. Finally, it constructs the information journey model of Chinese first-time mothers including five stages.

Originality/value

This is the first time that information journey theory has been applied to the research on information needs and behaviors of first-time mothers. The authors have also further expanded the information seeking and acquisition phases and found new gaps in the phases to further refine the information journey model. This study can help us better understand the online information needs and behaviors of Chinese first-time mothers and provide support for organizations and online health community managers to develop new information services or improve the quality of existing services.

Peer review

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/OIR-10-2021-0538.

Expecting parents’ perceptions of the digital parental support “childbirth journey” constructed as a serious game—an intervention study

Objective

The aim of this study was to explore expecting parents’ perceptions of the Childbirth Journey as an intervention that includes medical information for parental support, constructed as a serious game.

Methods

In this qualitative study, semi-structured interviews were held with expecting parents in Sweden who were able to talk about specific parts of the Childbirth Journey they appreciated or found difficult to understand. A phenomenographic methodology was employed for data analysis.

Results

Participants perceived the Childbirth Journey to be easily accessible and customized with reliable information. The design and features of the intervention were perceived by the expecting parents to enhance the intervention’s usability, appeal, and trustworthiness. When parental couples used the Childbirth Journey together, it gave them an opportunity to discuss and better understand each other’s situation. The participants proposed several changes to the existing version of the game, mostly related to extending practical information and illustrated scenarios but also to the further development of the game’s design and animations. The participants found the Knowledge portal to be the most appealing part of the Childbirth Journey.

Conclusions

The Childbirth Journey intervention was concluded to be a valuable digital complement to in-person professional support, especially given the current COVID-19 pandemic restrictions in place in Sweden, which do not allow antenatal visits by partners. However, in its current form, the Childbirth Journey has some deficiencies and would therefore benefit from further development and exploration.

Parents' Perceptions About Future Digital Parental Support-A Phenomenographic Interview Study

Background: Parents use digital sources (such as the internet or online forums and applications) during pregnancy and after childbirth to receive informative support. Research shows that there is further need for innovation development in digital parental support despite informative support available in digital form. Purpose: To explore parents' perceptions of future digital parental support concerning pregnancy and the first 18 months of parenthood. Method: A phenomenographic interview study with an inductive approach including 15 semi-structured interviews was conducted. Results: The analysis process resulted in three descriptive categories: Opportunities for virtual and in-person meetings, Individualized digital parental support, and Professional knowledge and trustworthiness concerning future digital parental support. Conclusion: The results broaden the knowledge about how future digital parental support can be designed to facilitate the functional, interactive, and critical digital health literacy of new and would-be parents. To succeed, healthcare organizations should allow healthcare professionals to assume an active role in developing digital parental support, both as health educators (i.e., providing parents with knowledge) and facilitators (i.e., facilitating parents' use of digital parental support). However, parents perceived that future digital parental support should complement standard care instead of replacing in-person meetings with healthcare professionals.

"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.