Women’s use of digital media for pregnancy and parenting
1. Women’s Use of Digital Media for
Pregnancy & Parenting
Deborah Lupton
News & Media
Research Centre
University of Canberra
Twitter: @DALupton
Email:
deborah.lupton@canberra.edu.au
2. Intersections of research interests
pregnancy +
motherhood
digital
health
big data
cultures
digital
sociology
digitised
children
3.
4.
5. Current projects (with Sarah Pedersen +
Gareth Thomas)
1. Pregnancy and Parenting Apps Study: survey and
focus groups completed with Australian women
currently pregnant or had given birth in the last 3 years
- interviews with UK women currently in progress
2. Mumsnet Study: analysis of posts on this British
online forum for parents
3. Pregnancy Apps Content Analysis Study: critical
content analysis of pregnancy apps in Apple App Store
and Google Play
6. Pregnancy and Parenting Apps Study -
sources of data
Part 1: Survey of 410 women around Australia (every
state and territory, aged 18—45), November 2014
Part 2: Four focus groups in Sydney (36 women aged
23– 42), May 2015
12. What were pregnancy apps used for?
• information about their baby’s development : 86%
• information about changes in their body related to pregnancy:
71%
• tracking aspects of their body, such as weight gain or diet:
33%
• online discussions with other pregnant women : 27%
• tracking aspects of their baby, such as its heart rate: 18%
• keeping track of information about their medical
appointments, test results and so on: 18%
• for keeping a pregnancy journal: 14%
• for uploading and storing photos of themselves while
pregnant: 9%
• for uploading and storing foetal ultrasound images: 4%
• other: 5%
13. How useful were these pregnancy apps?
• 92% of those who used apps said that they found them useful or
helpful
• apps gave useful information : 83%
• helped women monitor their foetus’s development : 70%
• helped women monitor changes in their own body: 59%
• provided reassurance: 58%
• helped the women connect with other pregnant women: 24%
• helped women keep track of their medical appointments and other
medical details: 16%
• helped the women share information about their pregnancy with
friends and family: 14%
• helped the women store photographs or videos of their changing
body: 9%
• helped the women store ultrasound images of the foetus: 3%