Investigating the gendered nature of new parents’ digital technology use for health information

BACKGROUND: Parenting is marked by intense emotional and health information needs for individuals and families. Understanding how digital technologies are used by new parents may allow public health organizations to tailor digital health information resources and delivery methods to better meet needs. METHODS: A qualitative descriptive study was conducted to understand new parents’ experiences with digital technology during their transition to parenting. Individuals in Ontario, Canada who had become a parent in the past 24 months were recruited to participate in a focus group. Participants were asked to describe the technologies used to support their parenting and how they were used to support self and family health. Focus group data were subjected to thematic analysis using inductive coding. RESULTS: Focus groups were conducted with 26 heterosexual female participants. Participants primarily used digital technologies (smartphone, social media) to seek information on maternal, foetal, and infant health and establish social and emotional supports. Parental health information work was gendered and categorized by 2 dominant themes. First, “‘Let me know when I'm needed'” typifies fathers’ limited health information seeking and reinforces mothers as lay information mediaries. Second, “Information Curation” captures participants’ belief that gender biases built-in to digital parenting resources reified the gendered nature of health information work for new parents. CONCLUSIONS: While parents regularly use digital resources for health information seeking, the gendered nature of such digital resources reinforces gendered divisions of health work. KEY MESSAGES: • Digital technologies tailored to new parents actively reinforces gender norms. • Public health organizations have an opportunity to engage with new parents to identify how digital information resources can be created that support equitable division of health information work.