TY - JOUR
T1 - Online Health Seeking Behaviours
T2 - What Information Is Sought by Women Experiencing Miscarriage?
AU - Pang, Patrick Cheong Iao
AU - Temple-Smith, Meredith
AU - Bellhouse, Clare
AU - Trieu, Van Hau
AU - Kiropoulos, Litza
AU - Williams, Helen
AU - Coomarasamy, Arri
AU - Brewin, Jane
AU - Bowles, Amanda
AU - Bilardi, Jade
PY - 2018
Y1 - 2018
N2 - One in four pregnancies ends in miscarriage, a distressing event which can cause significant psychosocial impacts for many women, and yet often remains unseen and unspoken. Many would-be mothers turn to the internet for information and emotional support, and to share their experiences. In this paper, we present the results from 12 semi-structured interviews with women, investigating how and what online information they searched for at the time of miscarriage. We found that women are passive information seekers, searching for causes and preventive strategies to inform future pregnancies. Women want information presented in an easy to understand manner that is not overly clinical, and informed by credible sources. Women also seek psychological support and emotional relief through reading about others' experiences and sharing their stories online. The findings from this study provide a unique insight into the support and information needs of women, and will be used to guide the content, design and functionality of web-based technologies for women experiencing miscarriage.
AB - One in four pregnancies ends in miscarriage, a distressing event which can cause significant psychosocial impacts for many women, and yet often remains unseen and unspoken. Many would-be mothers turn to the internet for information and emotional support, and to share their experiences. In this paper, we present the results from 12 semi-structured interviews with women, investigating how and what online information they searched for at the time of miscarriage. We found that women are passive information seekers, searching for causes and preventive strategies to inform future pregnancies. Women want information presented in an easy to understand manner that is not overly clinical, and informed by credible sources. Women also seek psychological support and emotional relief through reading about others' experiences and sharing their stories online. The findings from this study provide a unique insight into the support and information needs of women, and will be used to guide the content, design and functionality of web-based technologies for women experiencing miscarriage.
KW - Miscarriage
KW - health information-seeking behaviour
KW - information needs
KW - online
KW - pregnancy loss
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85056385289&partnerID=8YFLogxK
M3 - Article
C2 - 30040693
AN - SCOPUS:85056385289
SN - 0926-9630
VL - 252
SP - 118
EP - 125
JO - Studies in Health Technology and Informatics
JF - Studies in Health Technology and Informatics
ER -