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“Baby wants tacos”: Analysis of health-related facebook posts from young pregnant women
In this 2019 study, social media was used as a tool to gain insight into the beliefs and practices surrounding weight gain, diet, and exercise during pregnancy among 43 young women. The participants were aged between 16 to 24 and recruited from two Midwest primary care clinics serving low-income communities. Marshall et al. inspected their Facebook posts, looking for content related to weight gain, exercise, and diet. The researchers identified major themes around their healthy behaviors. Outcomes included the frequency of posts and major themes regarding health behaviors during pregnancy. Among the 2899 pregnancy posts found, 311 were related to weight. The prominent theme of their posts included eating behaviors and cravings (58% of identified posts), body image (24%), the influence of family, partners, and friends (14%), and the desire to exercise (4%). It was concluded that young pregnant women often consider food cravings and body image when revealing their thoughts and feelings about weight gain during pregnancy. In addition, friends and family seem to influence their behaviors. [NPID: social media, beliefs, weight gain, eating behavior, food cravings, pregnancy]
Year: 2019
