COVID-19 Information Sources and Health Behaviors During Pregnancy: Results From a Prenatal App-Embedded Survey

James Bohnhoff; Alexander Davis; Wändi Bruine de Bruin; Tamar Krishnamurti

doi:10.2196/31774

COVID-19 Information Sources and Health Behaviors During Pregnancy: Results From a Prenatal App-Embedded Survey

JMIR Infodemiology. 2021 Dec 7;1(1):e31774. doi: 10.2196/31774. eCollection 2021 Jan-Dec.

Authors

James Bohnhoff¹, Alexander Davis², Wändi Bruine de Bruin^{3

4}, Tamar Krishnamurti⁵

Affiliations

¹ Division of General Pediatrics University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine Pittsburgh, PA United States.
² Department of Engineering and Public Policy Carnegie Mellon University Pittsburgh, PA United States.
³ Sol Price School of Public Policy University of Southern California Los Angeles, CA United States.
⁴ Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics University of Southern California Los Angeles, CA United States.
⁵ Division of General Internal Medicine University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine Pittsburgh, PA United States.

PMID: 34926994
PMCID: PMC8664132
DOI: 10.2196/31774

Abstract

Background: Pregnancy is a time of heightened COVID-19 risk. Pregnant individuals' choice of specific protective health behaviors during pregnancy may be affected by information sources.

Objective: This study examined the association between COVID-19 information sources and engagement in protective health behaviors among a pregnant population in a large academic medical system.

Methods: Pregnant patients completed an app-based questionnaire about their sources of COVID-19 information and engagement in protective health behaviors. The voluntary questionnaire was made available to patients using a pregnancy app as part of their routine prenatal care between April 21 and November 27, 2020.

Results: In total, 637 pregnant responders routinely accessed a median of 5 sources for COVID-19 information. The most cited source (79%) was the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Self-reporting evidence-based protective actions was relatively common, although 14% self-reported potentially harmful behaviors to avoid COVID-19 infection. The CDC and other sources were positively associated with engaging in protective behaviors while others (eg, US president Donald Trump) were negatively associated with protective behaviors. Participation in protective behaviors was not associated with refraining from potentially harmful behaviors (P=.93). Moreover, participation in protective behaviors decreased (P=.03) and participation in potentially harmful actions increased (P=.001) over the course of the pandemic.

Conclusions: Pregnant patients were highly engaged in COVID-19-related information-seeking and health behaviors. Clear, targeted, and regular communication from commonly accessed health organizations about which actions may be harmful, in addition to which actions offer protection, may offer needed support to the pregnant population.

Keywords: COVID-19; behavior; communication; critical appraisal; engagement; harm; health behavior; health behaviour; information literacy; information source; information-seeking; mHealth; media literacy; medical literacy; obstetrics; online health information; perinatal; pregnancy; preventative; preventive; protection; protective; risk; women.

©James Bohnhoff, Alexander Davis, Wändi Bruine de Bruin, Tamar Krishnamurti. Originally published in JMIR Infodemiology (https://infodemiology.jmir.org), 07.12.2021.