Digital Motherhood in the Postpartum Period: a Descriptive Study

Abstract

BackgroundDuring the first 6 weeks after birth, women often encounter problems and seek answers to their questions. This period is also crucial in terms of technology use.AimThe aim of this study was to examine the digital motherhood approach to self-care and infant care in the 6-week postpartum period, and its association with different variables.MethodsThis descriptive study recruited 278 women in the postpartum period. Data were collected from the Digital Motherhood Survey. Descriptive statistics and chi-squared analysis were performed.ResultsThe mean age of the women was 28.9 +/- 5.14 years; 50.4% had a high school education or less, and 49.6% had a university education or higher. The types of digital media consulted included institutional sites, blogs, and commercial sites. The three topics most frequently researched by women in the postpartum period using digital media were breastfeeding, infant nutrition, and general infant care. The top three reasons given by participants for preferring digital media were faster access to information, access to information from their own setting, and benefiting from the experiences of others. The following factors were significantly associated with digital media being a participant's first-choice information source: the woman and her partner having a university education or above, having a male infant, having received information about infant care, and having a postpartum hospital stay duration of 0-2 days.ConclusionThis study defined postpartum digital motherhood. The preference of women for digital media is influenced by their educational status and that of their partners, the sex of the infant, their prior knowledge of infant care, and the early discharge of their infants after birth. Healthcare professionals, especially nurses, must be aware of the digital media used by postpartum women to supervise them and provide guidance.