Andalibi Nazanin, Bowen Kristen
School of Information, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United States.
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, United States.
JMIR Form Res. 2022 Mar 2;6(3):e32640. doi: 10.2196/32640.
Information behavior describes all human behaviors in relation to information. Individuals experiencing disruption or stigma often use internet-based tools and spaces to meet their associated information needs. One such context is pregnancy loss, which, although impactful and common, has been absent from much of feminist and reproductive health and information behavior scholarship. By understanding information behavior after pregnancy loss and accounting for it in designing internet-based information spaces, we can take a meaningful step toward countering the stigma and silence that many who experience such loss endure, facilitate coping, and make space for diverse pregnancy narratives in our society.
This study's objective is to provide a characterization of internet-based information behavior after pregnancy loss.
We examined internet-based information behavior after pregnancy loss through 9 in-depth interviews with individuals residing in the United States. We analyzed the data by using open and axial coding.
We identified the following three themes in relation to participants' information behavior in internet-based spaces: needed information types, information-related concerns, and information outcomes. We drew from information behavior frameworks to interpret the processes and concerns described by participants as they moved from recognizing information needs to searching for information and to using information and experiencing outcomes. Specifically, we aligned these themes with information use concepts from the information behavior literature-information search, knowledge construction, information production, information application, and information effects. Participants' main concerns centered on being able to easily find information (ie, searchability), particularly on topics that had already been covered (ie, persistence), and, once found, being able to assess the information for its relevance, helpfulness, and credibility (ie, assessability). We suggest the following design implications that support health information behavior: assessability, persistence, and searchability.
We examined internet-based information behavior in the context of pregnancy loss, an important yet silenced reproductive health experience. Owing to the prevalence of information seeking during pregnancy, we advocate that generic pregnancy-related information spaces should address the needs related to pregnancy loss that we identified in addition to spaces dedicated to pregnancy loss. Such a shift could not only support those who use these spaces to manage pregnancies and then experience a loss but also help combat the silence and stigma associated with loss and the linear and normative narrative by which pregnancies are often represented.
信息行为描述了与信息相关的所有人类行为。经历干扰或耻辱的个体经常使用基于互联网的工具和空间来满足他们相关的信息需求。怀孕流产就是这样一种情况，尽管它影响重大且很常见，但在许多女权主义、生殖健康和信息行为研究中却未被涉及。通过了解怀孕流产后的信息行为，并在设计基于互联网的信息空间时加以考虑，我们可以朝着消除许多经历此类流产的人所遭受的耻辱和沉默、促进应对以及为我们社会中多样化的怀孕经历叙事创造空间迈出有意义的一步。
本研究的目的是描述怀孕流产后基于互联网的信息行为。
我们通过对居住在美国的个体进行9次深入访谈，研究了怀孕流产后基于互联网的信息行为。我们使用开放式编码和轴心式编码对数据进行了分析。
我们确定了与参与者在基于互联网的空间中的信息行为相关的以下三个主题：所需信息类型、与信息相关的担忧以及信息结果。我们借鉴信息行为框架来解释参与者从认识到信息需求到搜索信息、使用信息并体验结果的过程和担忧。具体而言，我们将这些主题与信息行为文献中的信息使用概念——信息搜索、知识构建、信息生产、信息应用和信息效果——进行了匹配。参与者主要关注能否轻松找到信息（即可搜索性），特别是关于已经涵盖的主题（即持久性），并且一旦找到，能否评估信息的相关性、有用性和可信度（即可评估性）。我们提出以下支持健康信息行为的设计建议：可评估性、持久性和可搜索性。
我们在怀孕流产这一重要但被忽视的生殖健康经历背景下研究了基于互联网的信息行为。由于怀孕期间信息寻求的普遍性，我们主张除了专门针对怀孕流产的空间外，一般与怀孕相关的信息空间也应满足我们所确定的与怀孕流产相关的需求。这样的转变不仅可以支持那些利用这些空间管理怀孕然后经历流产的人，还有助于对抗与流产相关的沉默和耻辱以及怀孕通常所呈现的线性和规范性叙事。
