Navigating (Mis)Information in Pregnancy-Related Decisions

Making pregnancy choices may be physically and emotionally challenging for young women, heavily influenced by the quality and accuracy of information they consume from diverse online and offline sources. Existing Human Computer Interaction (HCI) research focuses on social media sharing of broadly defined pregnancy experiences; remaining under-explored are potential harms of existing social information ecologies on young women navigating complex and sensitive decisions. In this study, the Newcastle research team conducted interviews in the United Kingdom (UK) with three young women plus one maternal mental health link worker, exploring their previous experiences of making pregnancy-related choices mediated by their consumption of online information. The team used Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) to illuminate how they encountered and made sense of this information, and how this shaped their decisions and experiences of healthcare services.

Our findings illuminate several disconnections the participants perceived when evaluating information sources whilst navigating cross-cultural and language barriers and taboos around seeking social support. Qualitative insights inform HCI design implications for improving support for young women’s reproductive health in the UK.