Understanding Postpartum Parents' Experiences via Two Digital Platforms
Xuewen Yao, Miriam Mikhelson, Megan Micheletti, Eunsol Choi, S Craig, Watkins, Edison Thomaz, Kaya De Barbaro

TL;DR
This study analyzes postpartum support seekers' experiences on digital platforms, revealing key differences between distressed and healthy mothers and highlighting how platform design influences support-seeking behaviors.
Contribution
It provides a detailed comparison of postpartum mothers' concerns and mental health states across two digital platforms using innovative analytical methods.
Findings
Distressed mothers report interpersonal issues and severe symptoms, including suicidal ideation.
Healthy mothers mainly discuss childcare topics with no severe mental health concerns.
Platform design influences the speech patterns and affect of distressed mothers.
Abstract
Digital platforms, including online forums and helplines, have emerged as avenues of support for caregivers suffering from postpartum mental health distress. Understanding support seekers' experiences as shared on these platforms could provide crucial insight into caregivers' needs during this vulnerable time. In the current work, we provide a descriptive analysis of the concerns, psychological states, and motivations shared by healthy and distressed postpartum support seekers on two digital platforms, a one-on-one digital helpline and a publicly available online forum. Using a combination of human annotations, dictionary models and unsupervised techniques, we find stark differences between the experiences of distressed and healthy mothers. Distressed mothers described interpersonal problems and a lack of support, with 8.60% - 14.56% reporting severe symptoms including suicidal…
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Taxonomy
TopicsMaternal Mental Health During Pregnancy and Postpartum · Family Caregiving in Mental Illness · Attachment and Relationship Dynamics
