Online searching does not automatically signal distrust
A central message of the presentation was that continuous searching often reflects continuous information needs. A new symptom can appear in the evening. A test result may raise a question after someone gets home. A person may simply want a second explanation of something discussed during an appointment.
A Dutch cross-sectional study supports this more nuanced view. Among 1,922 participants, 91.5% used midwives, while 77.9% used websites and 61% used apps. More than 80% considered professional sources trustworthy and useful. Digital sources did not erase the professional relationship. They sat alongside it.
Sources for this section: Sources of information used by women during pregnancy and the perceived quality
Fast answers can become real decisions
Digital sources are appealing because they are immediate, private and always available. That convenience matters, but it also shortens the path from finding information to interpreting it, making a decision and taking action.
A 2010 web survey of 613 women from 24 countries who had already used the internet for pregnancy information found that 97% used search engines. The authors also reported that 94% used the web to add to information from a healthcare professional, while 83% said online information influenced pregnancy-related decisions. Because the survey recruited internet users, these figures describe that sample rather than all pregnant people.
Sources for this section: Internet use in pregnancy informs women’s decision making: a web-based survey
A polished platform does not guarantee reliable information
The presentation also separated good design from good evidence. Frid and colleagues identified 57 pregnancy apps through a systematic search and assessed 29 in detail. Only 8 of those apps cited literature. The finding does not prove that every uncited statement was wrong, but it shows how difficult it can be for a user to trace where information came from.
Social media adds another layer. A 2023 systematic review found four recurring themes around pregnancy and parenting influencers: information sharing, support, identity and monetisation. Personal experience, health advice and commercial content can appear in the same familiar voice, leaving the audience to judge competence, evidence and possible commercial interests.
AI can make the same challenge less visible. A fluent, personal answer may feel authoritative even when the evidence behind it is unclear. Confidence of presentation cannot stand in for a checkable source.
Sources for this section: Mobile Health Apps for Pregnant Women: Systematic Search, Evaluation, and Analysis of Features, The impact of social media influencers on pregnancy, birth, and early parenting experiences: A systematic review
Professional guidance now includes digital navigation
The suggested response was practical: ask what the person found and what they understood, check the author, date and references together, and clearly name warning signs and the limits of general information. A conversation such as “Let’s look at what this page is based on” keeps the person involved without treating the search itself as a mistake.
This approach also matches the wider system challenge. A WHO Europe report found that 44 of 53 Member States had a national digital health strategy, but only just over half had policies for digital health literacy and only 15% reported evaluations of government-sponsored mobile health programmes. Technology can spread faster than the skills and safeguards needed to use it well.
Sources for this section: Digital health divide: only 1 in 2 countries in Europe and central Asia have policies to improve digital health literacy
Where Momminess fits
Zsebe-Vasvári Viktória connected the topic to the experience behind Momminess. Questions do not end at the consulting-room door, and keeping appointments, tasks, notes and family information in mind can become demanding. Momminess grew from the idea of offering an organised place for those moments between professional encounters.
The intended role is deliberately limited. Momminess can help people follow their pregnancy, keep questions and practical records together, use planning and tracking tools, and read content with visible authorship. It does not diagnose, and it does not replace a doctor, midwife, health visitor, emergency service or other qualified professional.
Sources for this section: MESZK XIII: Szakdolgozói Tudományos Kongresszus