Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Formative Research
Date Submitted: Sep 4, 2020
Date Accepted: Apr 13, 2021
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited. Preprints - unless they show as "accepted" - should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.
Using Social Media in health research with women of reproductive age: Online Focus Groups on Facebook
ABSTRACT
Background:
Social media provides new possibilities within health research, especially in hard-to-reach populations. Women in Denmark and around the world postpone motherhood and risk infertility due to their advanced age when they try to conceive. To this date, no studies have explored Danish women’s reflections on timing of motherhood within a social media setting.
Objective:
To explore Facebook as a platform for qualitative health research for women of reproductive age.
Methods:
A qualitative study based on three online focus groups on the social media Facebook with 26 Danish women of reproductive age discussing timing of motherhood in January 2020.
Results:
Conducting online focus groups on Facebook were successful to this study as it made recruitment easy and free of charge, and the online approach was found eligible for qualitative data collection. All participants found it to be a positive experience to participate in an online focus group. More than half of the women participating in the online focus groups, felt that it was an advantage to meet on Facebook instead of meeting face-to-face.
Conclusions:
Conducting online focus groups on Facebook is an eligible method to access qualitative data from women of reproductive age. Participants were positive towards being a part of an online focus group. Online focus groups on social media have the potential to give women of reproductive age a voice in the debate of motherhood.
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