An exploration of african-American pregnant women's information-seeking behavior in detroit

Abstract

In the United States, African-American women are three times more likely to die of pregnancy-related issues, and 57% more likely to have miscarriages than White women. In part, this is due to deficiencies in the information ecology serving pregnant mothers. We report on a qualitative study with 16 low-income, African-American, pregnant women from the Detroit area, focused on understanding their informational needs and information-seeking behavior. We find that our participants consumed information from multiple sources voraciously; treated formal medical sources as no more trustworthy than other information sources; sought corroborative evidence when making decisions; relied on video and social media sources; and voiced requests for material and social support more than for medical information. Among our recommendations are increased use of video as a means for pregnancy-related information dissemination - particularly testimonials by experienced mothers with similar backgrounds - and better integration of medically sound voices in spaces where mothers already congregate online.