Maternal Experience with Online Information on Parenting and Infant Care: Qualitative Findings from Quebec, Canada

Use of online health information is positively associated with citizen knowledge, empowerment, self-care, health outcomes, and quality of life. However, little is known about how mothers with incomes below the poverty threshold and with education levels of high school or less use and interact with the Internet as a key source of lay knowledge and skills for infant care and childrearing. Our objective in this study was to understand mothers’ perceptions of their experience in using online information for these purposes. To obtain a rich and nuanced understanding of their experience, we used a qualitative study approach based on 40 individual semi-structured interviews with mothers. Adopting Freidson’s concept of “lay referral system” to grasp mothers’ experience with online parenting information, we found that they relied on this information source extensively. Our findings showed that Internet-based information and online interactions were part of their lay referral system and modified to some extent how they interacted with their lay consultants (family and friends). Three major themes emerged in relation to how the Internet functioned as a component of the mothers’ lay referral systems: (1) strategic use of the Internet for better parenting; (2) critical stance towards the Internet; and (3) strengthening of autonomy, skills, and self-confidence. Mothers with spouses and an active social network were more likely to use online information to complement information obtained from their entourage or from professionals than were mothers with a less active social network or who were more socially isolated.