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Understanding Postpartum Parents' Experiences via Two Digital Platforms

Authors:

Miriam Mikhelson,

Megan Micheletti,

S. Craig Watkins,

Kaya de BarbaroAuthors Info & Claims

Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction, Volume 7, Issue CSCW1

Article No.: 107, Pages 1 - 23

https://doi.org/10.1145/3579540

Published: 16 April 2023 Publication History

Abstract

Digital platforms, including online forums and helplines, have emerged as avenues of support for caregivers suffering from postpartum mental health distress. Understanding support seekers' experiences as shared on these platforms could provide crucial insight into caregivers' needs during this vulnerable time. In the current work, we provide a descriptive analysis of the concerns, psychological states, and motivations shared by healthy and distressed postpartum support seekers on two digital platforms, a one-on-one digital helpline and a publicly available online forum. Using a combination of human annotations, dictionary models and unsupervised techniques, we find stark differences between the experiences of distressed and healthy mothers. Distressed mothers described interpersonal problems and a lack of support, with 8.60% - 14.56% reporting severe symptoms including suicidal ideation. In contrast, the majority of healthy mothers described childcare issues, such as questions about breastfeeding or sleeping, and reported no severe mental health concerns. Across the two digital platforms, we found that distressed mothers shared similar content. However, the patterns of speech and affect shared by distressed mothers differed between the helpline vs. the online forum, suggesting the design of these platforms may shape meaningful measures of their support-seeking experiences. Our results provide new insight into the experiences of caregivers suffering from postpartum mental health distress. We conclude by discussing methodological considerations for understanding content shared by support seekers and design considerations for the next generation of support tools for postpartum parents.

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Cited By

Alsebayel GTroiano GHarteveld C(2024)"I Believe the Baby in the Picture is My Baby": User Experiences with Commercial Pregnancy AppsProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/36765118:MHCI(1-28)Online publication date: 24-Sep-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3676511
El Aoufir H(2023)Les effets paradoxaux des applications de suivi du cycle menstruel. Fabrication et régulation des émotions liées au « syndrome prémenstruel »Revue française d'éthique appliquée10.3917/rfeap.014.0094N° 14:1(94-109)Online publication date: 30-Nov-2023
https://doi.org/10.3917/rfeap.014.0094

Index Terms

Understanding Postpartum Parents' Experiences via Two Digital Platforms
1. Applied computing
  1. Law, social and behavioral sciences
    1. Psychology
2. Human-centered computing
  1. Collaborative and social computing
    1. Empirical studies in collaborative and social computing

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cover image Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction

Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction Volume 7, Issue CSCW1

CSCW

April 2023

3836 pages

EISSN:2573-0142

DOI:10.1145/3593053

Editor:
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Published: 16 April 2023

Published in PACMHCI Volume 7, Issue CSCW1

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Cited By

Alsebayel GTroiano GHarteveld C(2024)"I Believe the Baby in the Picture is My Baby": User Experiences with Commercial Pregnancy AppsProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/36765118:MHCI(1-28)Online publication date: 24-Sep-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3676511
El Aoufir H(2023)Les effets paradoxaux des applications de suivi du cycle menstruel. Fabrication et régulation des émotions liées au « syndrome prémenstruel »Revue française d'éthique appliquée10.3917/rfeap.014.0094N° 14:1(94-109)Online publication date: 30-Nov-2023
https://doi.org/10.3917/rfeap.014.0094

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