“Should I visit the clinic”: Analyzing WhatsApp-mediated Online Health Support for Expectant and New Mothers in Rural India

ABSTRACT Limited interaction with professionals, infrastructural, and social constraints put barriers in providing holistic support to expectant and new mothers in low-resource settings. We examine the use of digital support groups facilitated through WhatsApp by a non-government organization in India. Complementing prior research, these digital peer support groups inform about an open public space created over a chat platform where rural communities and health professionals can engage. By qualitatively analyzing six months of interaction among 588 group members and collecting the experiences of the group moderators, we inform about how the support groups acted as an important source for compensating the gaps in the existing healthcare, providing reassurance support on routine health, explanation on test reports, validation and counseling support in ongoing treatments. We also derive implications for the future of digital support groups and the need for further research on the use of unplatformed design models in resource-constrained settings.