Information needs, barriers, and information seeking among low-income pregnant women

This study investigated information needs, information barriers, and their relationships to pregnancy health information seeking among low-income pregnant women.

Methods: Pregnant women (> or =18 years old, English-speaking, and on public health insurance) were recruited from a prenatal clinic. Women were asked to rate (1 to 5) their information needs for health promotion, risk prevention, and pregnancy adaptation (20 items). They also rated their perceived barriers to finding and using pregnancy health information (13 items). Pregnancy health information seeking was measured by asking women how often (never, sometimes, often, all the time) they searched for information from 8 different sources.

Results: 84 pregnant women participated in the study. The majority were Black, unmarried, aged 20-29, high school educated or less, multigravidas, and in their third trimester pregnancy. Danger signs, fetal growth/development, stress, preterm labor, and prenatal medication use were rated high as important information needs. The barriers rated highest were in using computer, media, community, or family/friends to find information. Women having low information needs and high barriers demonstrated the lowest information seeking score (average score = 14.94) than women with other levels of needs and barriers (average = 17.77 - 20.82). After controlling demographic and obstetric factors, higher barriers and higher needs resulted in lower (standardized ß = -.37, p < .0001) and higher (standardized ß = .17, p = .067) information seeking, respectively.

Conclusions: Information needs and information barriers are correlated with pregnancy health information seeking among low-income pregnant women. Reducing barriers to information seeking especially may facilitate these women's information seeking.