Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2016 Mar 28:16:65.
doi: 10.1186/s12884-016-0856-5.

Internet use by pregnant women seeking pregnancy-related information: a systematic review

Padaphet Sayakhot  1 , Mary Carolan-Olah  2
Affiliations

Internet use by pregnant women seeking pregnancy-related information: a systematic review

Padaphet Sayakhot et al. BMC Pregnancy Childbirth. .

Abstract

Background: The Internet has become one of the most popular sources of information for health consumers and pregnant women are no exception. The primary objective of this review was to investigate the ways in which pregnant women used the Internet to retrieve pregnancy-related information.

Methods: We conducted a systematic review to answer this question. In November 2014, electronic databases: Scopus, Medline, PreMEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL and PubMed were searched for papers with the terms "Internet"; "pregnancy"; "health information seeking", in the title, abstract or as keywords. Restrictions were placed on publication to within 10 years and language of publication was restricted to English. Quantitative studies were sought, that reported original research and described Internet use by pregnant women.

Results: Seven publications met inclusion criteria and were included in the review. Sample size ranged from 182 - 1347 pregnant women. The majority of papers reported that women used the Internet as a source of information about pregnancy. Most women searched for information at least once a month. Fetal development and nutrition in pregnancy were the most often mentioned topics of interest. One paper included in this review found that women with higher education were three times more likely to seek advice than women with less than a high school education, and also that single and multiparous women were less likely to seek advice than married and nulliparous women. The majority of women found health information on the Internet to be reliable and useful.

Conclusion: Most women did not discuss the information they retrieved from the Internet with their health providers. Thus, health providers may not be aware of potentially inaccurate information or mistaken beliefs about pregnancy, reported on the Internet. Future research is needed to address this issue of potentially unreliable information.

Keywords: Antenatal care; Information; Internet; Pregnancy.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Selection of papers in accordance with PRISMA 2009 flow diagram [15]
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Lagan BM, Sinclair M, George Kernohan W. Internet use in pregnancy informs women’s decision making: A web-based survey. Birth. 2010;37(2):106–15. doi: 10.1111/j.1523-536X.2010.00390.x. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Romano AM. A Changing Landscape: Implications of Pregnant Women’s Internet Use for Childbirth Educators. J Perinat Educ. 2007;16(4):18–24. doi: 10.1624/105812407X244903. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Song H, Cramer EM, McRoy S, May A. Information needs, seeking behaviors, and support among low-income expectant women. Women Health. 2013;53(8):824–42. doi: 10.1080/03630242.2013.831019. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Eysenbach G, Powell J, Kuss O, Sa ER. Empirical studies assessing the quality of health information for consumers on the world wide web: a systematic review. JAMA. 2002;287(20):2691–700. doi: 10.1001/jama.287.20.2691. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Gao LL, Larsson M, Luo SY. Internet use by Chinese women seeking pregnancy-related information. Midwifery. 2013;29(7):730–5. doi: 10.1016/j.midw.2012.07.003. - DOI - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources