Maternity clinic going online: Mothers' experiences of social media and online health information for parental support in Finland

Abstract

Social support and health information are important elements in maternity care preventive and counseling services, and the internet has a potential role in supporting those services. In a pilot service innovation study, a web service offering social media tools and health information for parental support was created as an extension to the standard preventive and counseling services provided by a local primary care maternity clinic in Finland. In this exploratory qualitative study we examined the experiences of mothers of infants (n = 7) of using the virtual service. This study showed that social media coordinated by a maternity clinic can effectively create a sense of virtual community, or a feeling of belonging to a group, and respond to the needs for social support of parents with small children. At the same time, there seemed to be less utility to the mothers derived from the health information made available through the service. This pilot study demonstrated the importance of understanding virtual health service users in their everyday life context, as the utility they derive from the service is largely affected by it.

Keywords:

• Maternal-child health centers
• Parenting
• Internet
• Social media
• Consumer health information

Acknowledgements

This study was funded by the Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation TEKES. The authors would like to thank all the mothers who participated in the study as well as the health and technical professionals who contributed to the research.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Marilla Palmén

Marilla Palmén, MA, MSc was trained in cultural anthropology and health systems management and has worked in international health in Egypt and Central America and health and social care services development in Finland. She is currently a PhD candidate in health informatics at the University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio and works in health informatics university partnership projects between Finnish and African universities.

Pirkko Kouri

Pirkko Kouri, PHN, RN, MNSc, PhD is a principal lecturer at the Savonia University of Applied Sciences, Unit of Health Care, Kuopio, Finland. Dr. Kouri has over 15 years of experience in the use of information and communication technologies in the development of maternal and child health care services both in Finland and abroad.