Online nutrition information seeking among Australian primigravid women.

BACKGROUND: optimal nutrition in pregnancy is crucial for short and long term health in both mother and child. While a large proportion of pregnant women utilise the internet for informational support during pregnancy, little is known about online practices relating to food and nutrition in pregnancy.

METHODS: a qualitative study; Semi-structured interviews were undertaken with 16 primigravid women to explore their approaches and preferences when accessing and engaging with pregnancy-related nutrition information online. Women who had accessed the Internet for pregnancy related nutrition and food information were recruited via snowball sampling from South East Queensland, Australia. Data were analysed in accordance with descriptive phenomenology.

FINDINGS: food and nutrition information-seeking practices were highly varied but followed a similar overall pathway. Six broad themes were identified "triggers", "access and navigation", "appraisal", "changes in searching frequency", "preferred features" and "engagement with communication approaches". Women preferred online sources that were easy to navigate and presented information clearly. Experience as well as fact based communication appeared to satisfy different informational needs. KEY CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: women search for food and nutrition information online in similar ways to other pregnancy issues. Opportunity for engaging with women online regarding a range of food and nutrition topics may be limited to early in pregnancy unless prompted to via conversations with antenatal service providers. Health practitioners have a role to play in helping women source evidence-based web sites. There is opportunity for organisations with mandates to support women to optimise diet quality during pregnancy, to improve user experience building on key preferences identified in this study to increase appeal and engagement by pregnant women.