Expecting parents' use of digital sources in preparation for parenthood in a digitalised society - a systematic review.

BACKGROUND

In today's society, people are experiencing the rapid development of digitalisation. Expecting parents may have difficulties evaluating the information online; they are not always sure which sources of information are trustworthy, and this exacerbates their feelings of anxiety. More research is needed to broaden the knowledge about how their use of digital sources may influence their health.

QUESTION

The focus of this study was to explore expecting parents' use of digital sources and how this influences their health during pregnancy.

METHODS

A systematic review covered the thematic analysis of 39 articles.

FINDINGS

The analysis resulted in the following theme: and sub-themes: ; ; and

CONCLUSION

Different digital sources in our digitalised society mean access to information and opportunities to extend social connections for expecting parents. This can promote their ability to understand and adapt to parenthood, as well as to improve their health and well-being and make the parental transition. However, professional support during face-to-face consultations cannot always be exchanged to digital sources. It is important to base digital sources devoted to expecting parents and digitalisation overall on multi-sectorial collaborations and coordination between different organisations and the digital sources they provide.