“Hang in there mama!” The role of online parenting forums in maternal mental health

Author:

McSorley Lauren,Deighton-Smith Nova,Budds Kirsty,Wang Xu

Abstract

The perinatal period can be challenging and yet reluctance to disclose wellbeing concerns to health professionals is well documented. The current study sought to explore how women use online parenting forums to seek advice and support for maternal mental health concerns. Forum threads (N = 153) from a popular UK parenting website were analysed to explore postpartum mothers’ discussions about their maternal mental health. Through reflexive thematic analysis, four themes were generated: (1) Navigating the motherhood role: unprepared and overwhelmed; (2) “I’m struggling, but looking on here I know I’m no way alone!”; (3) Challenging feelings of failure: “it doesn’t make you a bad mother”; and (4) Forums facilitate help seeking. There were two main findings; first, forums may act as a potential solution in offering a supportive, reassuring community and safe space for disclosure around maternal mental health concerns. Furthermore, forums are beneficial in providing women with an honest, realistic view and expectation of motherhood, thus supporting their transition to parenthood. Consequently, forums could be utilised to inform training for healthcare professionals to understand disclosure barriers.

Publisher

Masaryk University Press

Subject

General Psychology,Social Sciences (miscellaneous),Communication,Information Systems,Pathology and Forensic Medicine

同舟云学术

1.学者识别学者识别

2.学术分析学术分析

3.人才评估人才评估

"同舟云学术"是以全球学者为主线,采集、加工和组织学术论文而形成的新型学术文献查询和分析系统,可以对全球学者进行文献检索和人才价值评估。用户可以通过关注某些学科领域的顶尖人物而持续追踪该领域的学科进展和研究前沿。经过近期的数据扩容,当前同舟云学术共收录了国内外主流学术期刊6万余种,收集的期刊论文及会议论文总量共计约1.5亿篇,并以每天添加12000余篇中外论文的速度递增。我们也可以为用户提供个性化、定制化的学者数据。欢迎来电咨询!咨询电话:010-8811{复制后删除}0370

www.globalauthorid.com

TOP

Copyright © 2019-2024 北京同舟云网络信息技术有限公司
京公网安备11010802033243号  京ICP备18003416号-3