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Adopting an Internet approach in acquiring knowledge about pregnancy
DISSERTATION

, Medical University of South Carolina - College of Health Professions, United States

Medical University of South Carolina - College of Health Professions . Awarded

Abstract

The main research question of this project was “Are pregnant women or women who are considering pregnancy adopting an Internet approach over other approaches in acquiring knowledge about pregnancy?” This project presents a summary of the author's descriptive study of Internet usage patterns among pregnant women and women seeking pregnancy-related information at three medical maternity clinics. Using a developed and tested instrument, the survey was administered to 250 women at clinics in Charleston, South Carolina.

The overarching research aim of this project was to characterize the use of the Internet as a source of health information among these subjects. Another major aim was to compare information-seeking strategies employed by Internet and non-Internet users.

This study identified major sources of information used by pregnant women and women considering pregnancy, satisfaction with those sources and time spent reading or learning from them. Other aims of this project were to determine the impact of Internet use by women in communicating with their health care providers, and to explore women's expectations of Internet competence by their providers.

This manuscript includes a review of the literature, explanation of research design and methodology, and the final results of statistical analyses. This research demonstrates the efficacy of using a self-administered survey instrument in attempting to acquire information about women's use of the Internet and use of other sources of information regarding pregnancy and childbirth.

The author reports statistical significances in the acquisition of information regarding pregnancy versus other popular gathering approaches. Based on the statistics and analysis herein, the data affirms that the Internet is in fact being used by women who are pregnant or those considering pregnancy as one of the primary methods of searching for health information.

Citation

Nestler, G.S. Adopting an Internet approach in acquiring knowledge about pregnancy. Ph.D. thesis, Medical University of South Carolina - College of Health Professions. Retrieved March 28, 2024 from .

This record was imported from ProQuest on October 23, 2013. [Original Record]

Citation reproduced with permission of ProQuest LLC.

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