Understanding engagement of parents in online health communities for early childhood

Abstract

Online health communities provide a means for parents to engage with each other and seek and offer support. The parents' conversations in online communities also provide a lens into the parenting practices, challenges, and what role technology can play. Previous studies discuss the engagement of parents on online platforms related to specific childcare concerns. To understand the experiences of parents with online health communities, during the initial years of parenting, we conducted a study on the BabyCenter platform. It is a web forum that provides information on different aspects of early childhood development and offers peer-to-peer interaction. In this paper, we investigate the patterns of users' engagement for early childhood queries. Based on qualitative analysis of publicly available data on BabyCenter, 390 posts from January 2019 to June 2019, we find that the users primarily construct their knowledge, and engage in social interactions on the platform. We also find limited multimedia usage for expressing health concerns. We discuss design implications for parenting forums that meet the multi-faceted needs of parents during the early years of parenting.