Abstract
Objectives
Parents of young children have unique informational needs and it has been demonstrated that information-seeking behaviors influence health outcomes. Due to social media’s popularity, understanding parents’ use of social media may assist in disseminating accurate parenting information and in developing targeted interventions. Thus, we aimed to identify and describe the existing literature of parental use of social media for parenting in the U.S.
Methods
After searching nine databases with two separate Boolean phrases, identified articles were reviewed. Inclusion and exclusion criteria were applied, resulting in 12 articles published between January 2004 and May 2018 that related to parental use of social media for parenting or infant health in the U.S. Data from relevant articles were then extracted and analyzed.
Results
Facebook was the most frequent social media format. Parental utilization of social media varied by race/ethnicity and region. Studies primarily focused on women and a range of article topics were identified, the most common being infant feeding practices. Finally, two themes emerged: (1) parental support via social media and (2) effectiveness of using social media for health communication targeting parents.
Conclusions for Practice
Social media provided support for parents and was effective for communicating health information; thus, public health organizations should include social media in their efforts to promote infant and child health. More research is needed to further identify demographic differences in social media use among parents.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Asiodu, I. V., Waters, C. M., Dailey, D. E., & Lyndon, A. (2017). Infant feeding decision-making and the influences of social support persons among first-time African American mothers. Maternal and Child Health Journal, 21(4), 863–872. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10995-016-2167-x.
Banman A, Harty J, Guterman N, Bellamy J, Morales-Mirque S (2018) The effects of the dads matter intervention on father engagement and involvement: Preliminary findings. Abstract. Society for Social Work and Research 22nd Annual Conference. Retrieved July 18, 2018, from https://sswr.confex.com/sswr/2018/webprogram/Paper31627.html.
Bernhardt, J. M., & Felter, E. M. (2004). Online pediatric information seeking among mothers of young children: Results from a qualitative study using focus groups. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 6(1), e7. https://doi.org/10.2196/jmir.6.1.e7.
Blanch-Hartigan, D., Blake, K. D., & Viswanath, K. (2014). Cancer survivors’ use of numerous information sources for cancer-related information: Does more matter? Journal of Cancer Education, 29(3), 488–496. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13187-014-0642-x.
Chou, W. Y., Hunt, Y. M., Beckjord, E. B., Moser, R. P., & Hesse, B. W. (2009). Social media use in the United States: Implications for health communication. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 11(4), e48. https://doi.org/10.2196/jmir.1249.
Cooper, H. (2017). Research synthesis and meta-analysis: A step-by-step approach (5th ed.). Los Angeles: CA Sage Publications.
Criss, S., Woo Baidal, J. A., Goldman, R. E., Perkins, M., Cunningham, C., & Taveras, E. M. (2015). The role of health information sources in decision-making among Hispanic mothers during their children’s first 1000 days of life. Maternal and Child Health Journal, 19(11), 2536–2543. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10995-015-1774-2.
Duggan, M., Lenhard, A., Lampe, C., & Ellison, N.B. (2015). Parents and social media: Mothers are especially likely to give and receive support on social media. The Pew Research Center. Retrieved July 18, 2018, from http://www.pewinternet.org/2015/07/16/parents-and-social-media/.
Fiks, A. G., Gruver, R. S., Bishop-Gilyard, C. T., Shults, J., Virudachalam, S., Suh, A. W., et al. (2017). A social media peer group for mothers to prevent obesity from infancy: The Grow2Gether Randomized Trial. Child Obesity, 13(5), 356–368. https://doi.org/10.1089/chi.2017.0042.
Greenwood, S., Perrin, A., & Duggan, M. (2016). Social Media Update 2016. Pew Research Center. Retrieved July 18, 2018, from http://www.pewinternet.org/2016/11/11/social-media-update-2016/.
Gruver, R. S., Bishop-Gilyard, C. T., Lieberman, A., Gerdes, M., Virudachalam, S., Suh, A. W., et al. (2016). A social media peer group intervention for mothers to prevent obesity and promote healthy growth from infancy: Development and pilot trial. JMIR Research Protocols, 5(3), e159. https://doi.org/10.2196/resprot.5276.
Guerra-Reyes, L., Christie, V. M., Prabhakar, A., Harris, A. L., & Siek, K. A. (2016). Postpartum health information seeking using mobile phones: Experiences of low-income mothers. Maternal and Child Health Journal, 20(Suppl 1), 13–21. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10995-016-2185-8.
Hannes, K., Lockwood, C., & Pearson, A. (2010). A comparative analysis of three online appraisal instruments’ ability to assess validity in qualitative research. Qualtative Health Research, 20(12), 1736–1743. https://doi.org/10.1177/1049732310378656.
Henshaw, E. J., Cooper, M. A., Jaramillo, M., Lamp, J. M., Jones, A. L., & Wood, T. L. (2018). Trying to figure out if you’re doing things right, and where to get the info: Parents recall information and support needed during the first 6 weeks postpartum. Maternal and Child Health Journal, 22(11), 1668–1675.
Jha, A., Lin, L., & Savoia, E. (2016). The use of social media by state health departments in the US: Analyzing health communication through Facebook. Journal of Community Health, 41(1), 174–179. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10900-015-0083-4.
Kim, H. N., Wyatt, T. H., Li, X., & Gaylord, M. (2016). Use of social media by fathers of premature infants. Journal of Perinatal and Neonatal Nurses, 30(4), 359–366. https://doi.org/10.1097/jpn.0000000000000214.
Lee, J. Y., Knauer, H. A., Lee, S. J., MacEachern, M. P., & Garfield, C. F. (2018). Father-inclusive perinatal parent education programs: A systematic review. Pediatrics, 142(1), e20180437.
Lin, L., Jung, M., McCloud, R. F., & Viswanath, K. (2014). Media use and communication inequalities in a public health emergency: A case study of 2009–2010 pandemic influenza A virus subtype H1N1. Public Health Reports, 129(Suppl 4), 49–60. https://doi.org/10.1177/00333549141296s408.
Logsdon, M. C., Mittelberg, M., & Myers, J. (2015). Use of social media and Internet to obtain health information by rural adolescent mothers. Applied Nursing Research, 28(1), 55–56. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apnr.2014.04.006.
Long, A. (n.d.). Evaluation tool for qualitative studies. University of Leeds. Retrieved January 17, 2018, from http://usir.salford.ac.uk/12970/1/Evaluation_Tool_for_Qualitative_Studies.pdf.
Majee, W., Thullen, M. J., Davis, A. N., & Sethi, T. K. (2017). Influences on infant feeding: Perceptions of mother-father parent dyads. The American Journal of Maternal/Child Nursing, 42(5), 289–294. https://doi.org/10.1097/nmc.0000000000000357.
McDaniel, B. T., Coyne, S. M., & Holmes, E. K. (2012). New mothers and media use: Associations between blogging, social networking, and maternal well-being. Maternal and Child Health Journal, 16(7), 1509–1517. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10995-011-0918-2.
Mitchell, S. J., Godoy, L., Shabazz, K., & Horn, I. B. (2014). Internet and mobile technology use among urban African American parents: Survey study of a clinical population. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 16(1), e9. https://doi.org/10.2196/jmir.2673.
Moher, D., Liberati, A., Tetzlaff, J., & Altman, D. G. (2009). Reprint–preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses: The PRISMA statement. Physical Therapy, 89(9), 873–880.
Perrin A (2015) Social media usage: 2005–2015. The Pew Research Center. Retrieved July 18, 2018, from http://www.pewinternet.org/2015/10/08/social-networking-usage-2005-2015/.
Ramanadhan, S., & Viswanath, K. (2006). Health and the information nonseeker: A profile. Health Communication, 20(2), 131–139. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327027hc2002_4.
Smith A, Anderson M (2018) Social media use in 2018. Pew Research Center. Retrieved July 18, 2018, from http://www.pewinternet.org/2018/03/01/social-media-use-in-2018/.
Social Media. (2018). Merriam Webster Dictionary. Retrieved July 18, 2018, from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/social%20media
Sundstrom, B. (2016). Mothers Google it up: Extending communication channel behavior in diffusion of innovations theory. Health Communication, 31(1), 91–101. https://doi.org/10.1080/10410236.2014.936339.
Swindle, T. M., Ward, W. L., Whiteside-Mansell, L., Bokony, P., & Pettit, D. (2014). Technology use and interest among low-income parents of young children: Differences by age group and ethnicity. Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, 46(6), 484–490.
Walker, L. O., Mackert, M. S., Ahn, J., Vaughan, M. W., Sterling, B. S., Guy, S., et al. (2017). e-Health and new moms: Contextual factors associated with sources of health information. Public Health Nursing, 34(6), 561–568. https://doi.org/10.1111/phn.12347.
Study Quality Assessment Tools. (n.d.). National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. Retrieved January 17, 2018, from https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health-topics/study-quality-assessment-tools
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Pretorius, K., Johnson, K.E. & Rew, L. An Integrative Review: Understanding Parental Use of Social Media to Influence Infant and Child Health. Matern Child Health J 23, 1360–1370 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10995-019-02781-w
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10995-019-02781-w