Why Social Media Matters
Women deserve accurate information about their health and how to protect it. Reliable guidance about common and distressing pregnancy outcomes like miscarriage, preterm birth, poor fetal growth, and uterine fibroids in pregnancy is scarce. Many videos and related topics online are little more than marketing—advertisements for clinical care services, grief counseling, books and products. Some are scams. We urge you to stay well-informed and discuss what the actual research evidence shows, including with your care providers.
We intend to be a voice you can trust.
Our research team believes stewardship of the trust given to us by study volunteers, and their candor and assistance, requires communicating the results outside the scientific community in clear and accessible ways. We are grateful to thousands of women, in eight areas of the country, who enrolled very early in pregnancy–most before their first prenatal visit, or while they were hoping to conceive. Each woman provided details about facets of her life, including personal characteristics, medical history, and daily activities, as well as habits and behaviors, at multiple times. What we have learned results from their generous gift of trust and patience in sharing their stories.
Getting information to women who are planning to conceive or are currently pregnant, requires being present where they are. A majority of women have multiple social media accounts and report also using online and social media platforms as key sources of health information. We hope you will share items you find interesting or important, or that you want others—your friends, daughters, healthcare providers, and policy makers—to know about.
Thanks for helping get the message out!
