Social support makes people feel cared for and being part of a loving social circle. Social support to immigrants or transnational maintains existing ties in the origin country even though the support is given by another country.
#Pregnant women are in a vulnerable part of their lives that needs a lot of care and attention in the immigrants' communities. Immigrants face many health-related challenges as they adjust to their new host country and therefore, this period is critical. They face a lack of knowledge and medical resources available to them in the host country, cultural insensitivity by doctors and nurses, and mental health stigmas.
However pregnant women are more open-minded toward health information and are more likely to follow through. Therefore, health intervention can be used in this population in order to achieve lifelong health changes.
#Technology and #social media can be used to promote health initiatives through motivation or pressure. This exposure motivates users through online encouragement from others or fear of being portrayed as an underachiever. Moreover, online health communities, provide a place for social sharing, support, and health empowerment. Users can feel empowered with information by engaging in online communities, hence they are better prepared to make better health decisions.
Therefore, health-related technology tools can be also used for immigrant women in developed countries. Social features and capabilities can enable valued transnational interactions to contribute to women’s pregnancy #mental health interventions.
One-to-One Interactions allows others in the transmigrant pregnant woman’s intimate social circle, such as mother, siblings, and very close mom friends, moms with children of the same age, to participate with aiding the pregnant woman in her health journey. The inclusion of these intimate relationships are beneficial in the sense that they can play a role in controlling and filtering the type of information usually trickled down through such sources.
A one-to-many interaction scenario provides a platform for rebuilding organizational support. Participants desire a caring connection with professionals whom they seek medical and wellness guidance from.
Many-to-Many Interaction Scenarios make participants feel at ease. Those who feel marginalized or excluded by the health care system and existing technologies come together because of shared circumstances to engage in a reciprocal relationship for the purpose of community building and organizational support.
Some pregnant women prefer managing their pregnancy independently or discretely. Therefore, designs that require no role from others are intended for the pregnant woman’s individual self-support use or individual private use. In such cases, the built-in support capabilities of the technology itself are sufficient for achieving their needs.
Source: Social Interaction Needs and Entertainment Approaches to Pregnancy Well-Being in mHealth Technology Design for Low-Income Transmigrant Women: Qualitative Codesign Study
AlJaberi 2018