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. 2024 Jul 30:11:23333936241259246.
doi: 10.1177/23333936241259246. eCollection 2024 Jan-Dec.

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

Thale Strand  1 , Thomas Westergren  1   2
Affiliations

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

Thale Strand et al. Glob Qual Nurs Res. .

Abstract

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.

Keywords: child health; consumer health information; health information seeking; internet; parental health literacy; parenting.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
PRISMA flow diagram of records identified, screened for eligibility, and included in the meta-ethnography (Page et al., 2021).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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