ABSTRACT
Purpose of Study: During the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of home births increased due to a rising perception of danger at hospitals. Social media is a way to share stories and experiences on topics including birth, and it has become a main means by which people gather information, regardless of whether it is accurate or not. While reasons for choosing home birth have been studied before, gathering this information from social media, especially considering the recent pandemic, has not yet been done. Reddit is a social media platform that includes 52 million daily users that post publicly and anonymously, thus sharing unfiltered information for anyone to see. Through a review of public posts and comments on Reddit from January 2017 through July 2022, using guidelines from previous studies, major themes on perceptions, attitudes, and advice people have about home birth were gathered. Methods Used: Search words on Reddit included home birth?, home vs. hospital birth?, home birth and covid?, home birth and birth trauma?, and home birth and trans men?. There were up to five themes per post or comment. These themes were categorized as positive (in support of home birth), negative (against home birth), or neutral. Posts had to be from the US, in English, with at least 10 comments and 10 upvotes, and from the last five years. Posts were excluded if they did not meet minimum comments and/or upvotes requirement, were explicitly from another country, were not directly related to home birth, it was not a planned home birth, it was a free birth, or they were from more than five years ago. Summary of Results: A total of 425 posts and 13,013 comments were reviewed for all search words. Out of 142 posts included, 68% were in support, 21% were against, and 11% were neutral. There were 1,384 comments included. Specific communities (subreddits?) were also searched and 36% of posts came from r/homebirth?. Supportive themes included concerns about safety in hospital delivery and reassurance about home birth safety, patient control with home deliveries, and advice about preparing for home birth. Negative themes included concerns about the risk of home birth, charges of negligence for those attempting it, reassurance that hospital birth offers women more control, and that medical interventions can be lifesaving. Conclusion(s): The results of this study will be used to help physicians recognize what women worry about hospital birth and what (mis)information they may have about home birth to better advise patients about their delivery options. This gives a voice to patients and their concerns regarding birth, which can help bridge gaps in physician-patient communication.
ABSTRACT
Purpose of Study: During the COVID-19 pandemic, patients avoided hospitals for many conditions, including giving birth. When compared to births in 2019, home births increased by 22% in 2020 and neonate outcomes worsened. Apgar scores of 0-3 and preterm births increased by 35.9% and 39.3% respectively. Previous studies have examined why patients choose home birth, but there has not been a recent study using social media as a source to identify these reasons. In this study, we identified themes in TikTok comments and posts to describe current attitudes toward home birth as it becomes a more prevalent choice in birth location among people despite the fact it is associated with worse birth outcomes. Methods Used: Using the search terms "home birth" and "home vs. hospital birth," videos were extracted from TikTok 's database and sorted by relevance to the search query. Video posts were reviewed for inclusion criteria: a minimum of ten comments, in English, in the date rage of January 2017- July 2022, and discussing birth within the United States. Inductive thematic saturation was used to classify the themes within the included video posts and proceeding comments. Once thematic saturation was reached in the comments, defined as ten consecutive comments with no new themes, the next post in the search results was reviewed. When 10 consecutive new posts with no new themes were found, the next search term was examined. All themes were extracted from each post and comment. The subjective importance of each of the themes within a post or comment were not identified. Summary of Results: The search yielded 352 posts and 34,439 comments. 115 posts and 1024 comments met inclusion criteria. Overall, 71.3% of posts were supportive of home birth, 17.4% were opposed, and 11.3% were neutral;70% of posts were from 2022 and nearly all the rest from 2021. Fourteen supportive themes such as desire to control the birth environment and experience, perceived danger in hospital birth, desire for fewer medical interventions, and personal stories were identified while ten themes in opposition emerged such as the perceived danger of home birth, desire for medical interventions, and personal birth experience. Three themes focused on an individual's right to make their own choices were identified as neutral. Analyzing the total theme counts: 894 supported home birth, 359 opposed it, and 172 were neutral. Conclusion(s): The COVID-19 pandemic brought the topic of home birth to the forefront. Women appear to be drawn to home birth because it is an environment where they have control and feel safe and comfortable. This study's results may be used to understand current attitudes of a vocal minority toward home birth, improve counseling patients received from physicians, and be implemented to improve hospital birth experiences.