Examining How Postpartum Videoconferencing Support Sessions Can Facilitate Connections between Parents: A Poststructural and Sociomaterial Analysis

Autor: Megan Aston, Sheri Price, Anna MacLeod, Kathryn Stone, Britney Benoit, Phillip Joy, Rachel Ollivier, Meaghan Sim, Josephine Etowa, Susan Jack, Lenora Marcellus, Damilola Iduye
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2024
Předmět:
Zdroj: Nursing Reports, Vol 14, Iss 1, Pp 99-114 (2024)
Druh dokumentu: article
ISSN: 2039-4403
2039-439X
DOI: 10.3390/nursrep14010009
Popis: Postpartum support for new parents can normalize experiences, increase confidence, and lead to positive health outcomes. While in-person gatherings may be the preferred choice, not all parents can or want to join parenting groups in person. Online asynchronous chat spaces for parents have increased over the past 10 years, especially during the COVID pandemic, when “online” became the norm. However, synchronous postpartum support groups have not been as accessible. The purpose of our study was to examine how parents experienced postpartum videoconferencing support sessions. Seven one-hour videoconferencing sessions were conducted with 4–8 parents in each group (n = 37). Nineteen parents from these groups then participated in semi-structured interviews. Feminist poststructuralism and sociomaterialism were used to guide the research process and analysis. Parents used their agency to actively think about and interact using visual (camera) and audio (microphone) technologies to navigate socially constructed online discourses. Although videoconferencing fostered supportive connections and parents felt less alone and more confident, the participants also expressed a lack of opportunities for individual conversations. Nurses should be aware of the emerging opportunities that connecting online may present. This study was not registered.
Databáze: Directory of Open Access Journals