Online health seeking behaviours: what information is sought by women experiencing miscarriage?

One in four pregnancies ends in miscarriage, a distressing event which can cause significant psychosocial impacts for many women, and yet often remains unseen and unspoken. Many would-be mothers turn to the internet for information and emotional support, and to share their experiences. In this paper, we present the results from 12 semi-structured interviews with women, investigating how and what online information they searched for at the time of miscarriage. We found that women are passive information seekers, searching for causes and preventive strategies to inform future pregnancies. Women want information presented in an easy to understand manner that is not overly clinical, and informed by credible sources. Women also seek psychological support and emotional relief through reading about others' experiences and sharing their stories online. The findings from this study provide a unique insight into the support and information needs of women, and will be used to guide the content, design and functionality of web-based technologies for women experiencing miscarriage.