Online platforms as a source of parents’ social support - Qualitative research study in finland, 2022
Rautalahti, Annina (2023)
Rautalahti, Annina
2023
Master's Programme in Public and Global Health
Yhteiskuntatieteiden tiedekunta - Faculty of Social Sciences
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Hyväksymispäivämäärä
2023-03-27
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-202303082819
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-202303082819
Tiivistelmä
The purpose of this study was to examine what kind of online platforms and applications parents use in one of the largest cities in Finland and do these tools increase their social support and enlarge their social network. The aim was also to find out if these technology-based tools support and empower their everyday life and parenthood. The targeted audience were parents with children from 0 to 12 years.
There were eight one-on-one interviews, selected through random sampling. Parents were recruited from parent-child- groups and they were interviewed with thematic questionnaires. Interviews were done in November and December in 2020 either in person or via Zoom online call. All the interviews were recorded, as participants agreed it. The length of the interviews varied from 30 minutes to 90 minutes.
There were many aspects that socially challenged mothers. These were especially loneliness, lack of community, exhaustion, and sleep deprivation, managing everyday life, lack of own time, uncertainty, and peer support. Mothers often turned to social media to find out answers to their problems and support for themselves. Mothers were looking for social support both from online and real-life communities. However, the social media groups or the platforms the mothers were part of, didn’t satisfy all the need for the social interaction they were longing for. Mothers wanted to have deeper conversations and genuine interactions with other mothers, and large WhatsApp groups and/or Facebook could not meet this need
There were eight one-on-one interviews, selected through random sampling. Parents were recruited from parent-child- groups and they were interviewed with thematic questionnaires. Interviews were done in November and December in 2020 either in person or via Zoom online call. All the interviews were recorded, as participants agreed it. The length of the interviews varied from 30 minutes to 90 minutes.
There were many aspects that socially challenged mothers. These were especially loneliness, lack of community, exhaustion, and sleep deprivation, managing everyday life, lack of own time, uncertainty, and peer support. Mothers often turned to social media to find out answers to their problems and support for themselves. Mothers were looking for social support both from online and real-life communities. However, the social media groups or the platforms the mothers were part of, didn’t satisfy all the need for the social interaction they were longing for. Mothers wanted to have deeper conversations and genuine interactions with other mothers, and large WhatsApp groups and/or Facebook could not meet this need