Abstract
BackgroundCanadian public health agencies, both municipal/regional and provincial/territorial, are responsible for promoting population health during pregnancy and the early postnatal period. This study examines how these agencies use web-based and Facebook channels to communicate perinatal health promotion during the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic.MethodsPerinatal health promotion content of websites and Facebook posts from a multijurisdictional and geographically diverse sample of government and non-governmental organizations (NGO) were evaluated using thematic content analysis in 2020.ResultsMajor Facebook perinatal health promotion themes included breastfeeding, infant care, labor/delivery, parenting support and healthy pregnancy. Facebook COVID-19-themed perinatal health promotion peaked in the second quarter of 2020. Websites emphasized COVID-19 transmission routes, disease severity and need for infection control during pregnancy/infant care, whereas Facebook posts focussed on changes to local health services including visitor restrictions. NGO perinatal health promotion reflected organizations’ individual mandates.ConclusionsCanadian government use of Facebook to disseminate perinatal health promotion during the COVID-19 pandemic varied in terms of breadth of topics and frequency of posts. There were missed opportunities to nuance transmission/severity risks during pregnancy, thereby proactively countering the spread of misinformation.
Published Version (
Free)
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call