Patients’ unmet information needs and gaps of obstetric ultrasound exam: A qualitative content analysis of social media platforms

Purpose: A healthy pregnancy is critical to ensure a healthy birth. Uncertainty and a lack of information often lead to anxiety during pregnancy, which may negatively affect health outcomes. Women become inquisitive during this period and increasingly seek out pregnancy-related health information online. In this study, we aim to understand the unmet information needs of obstetric ultrasound exams through a qualitative content analysis of social media posts. Methods: This is a qualitative content analysis study. We systematically gathered pregnancy-related consumer health questions from three public forums (Yahoo! Answers, BabyCenter, PregnancyForum) and one ultrasound internet forum (Reddit/ultrasound). We used a purposive sampling strategy. We only included questions about ultrasound exams, and we excluded any questions related the cost or training of the ultrasound exam. We also coded the emotion expressed by the women in the questions we included. After coding each question, we categorized the data into thematic topics and subtopics. Results: We collected a total of 435 questions that met the inclusion criteria. The thematic analysis included nine major themes. These themes include ultrasound exam preparation, exam expectancy, timing of the ultrasound exam, image interpretation, report interpretation, result explanation, women's emotions, and healthy lifestyle. In addition, we identified seventeenth subtopics. Conclusion: In this social media study, we discovered major information gaps that should be filled to better support health consumers’ understanding of obstetric ultrasound exams and result reports. The information gaps could become barriers to healthy decision-making and create stress among pregnant women. More work needs to be done to mitigate the information gaps, such as providing more consumer-friendly and personalized information during pregnancy.